South Park Celebrates Its Anniversary With a Traveling Exhibit

When Leighann Farrelly and other team members at experiential agency Superfly visited a storage unit in Los Angeles containing everything related to South Park, they were dusting off old scripts and rare T-shirts—literally. It had been a while since anyone had gone through everything in the unit, and it was full of what are now ancient relics: awards South Park had won, old storyboards, handwritten notes on scripts and even the gowns South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone wore to the 2000 Oscars. The infamous outfits resembled the iconic green dress Jennifer Lopez wore to the 2000 Grammys and the pink one Gwyneth Paltrow wore to the Oscars in 1999. Farrelly, Superfly’s director of business leadership, had been brought in by the Comedy Central and South Park teams to handle the logistics for an exhibition celebrating the anniversary of the show’s premiere—Aug. 13, 1997—and “find a way to showcase what 25 years of something actually looks like." The idea was that a traveling shipping container resembling the storage unit would be one of the exhibit’s main attractions. But Farrelly recalls some questions arose, including, “What scripts do we want to feature? What's going to be not only the most interesting to the super, super fans, but what's going to resonate with someone who's like, ‘South Park's cool. I haven't seen every episode; I know who Cartman is.' But they're going to get it.” Superfly was the experiential agency behind the traveling exhibit. Eventually, those questions were answered and became “South Park: The 25th Anniversary Experience,” an immersive exhibit featuring items from the storage unit and interactive photo opportunities. Fans were able to visit the exhibit in New York and Chicago on the last two Saturdays in July. The experience also embraced South Park’s Colorado roots with a sold-out 2-day concert on Aug. 9 and 10 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colo., featuring musical acts Primus—which performs the show’s theme song—and Ween, a band that made an appearance in a Season 2 episode. Both nights were filled with references to the show between both groups playing classic songs from various episodes and the show's creators emceeing from time to time. The concert will air on Comedy Central on Aug. 13 at 10 p.m. ET and be available to stream on Paramount+ the next day. For fans who couldn’t get tickets for the show, the experience added on a tailgate that had activations, games and cosplay contests. And it isn’t over yet: There will be another stop for fans in Denver on Aug. 12 and 13 and a final appearance between Hollywood and Vine on Aug. 20 in Los Angeles. The mobile shipping containers are inspired by the South Park storage unit in Los Angeles that has been housing these items for decades. Amy Campbell, CMO of Paramount Media Networks and MTV Entertainment Studios, told Adweek that the exhibit's point is to send a “love letter” to South Park fans and celebrate the show’s legacy. “It’s just as relevant as it was [when it first premiered],” she said. “I think it does have a special place in culture. I think it's been so subversive at times. It's certainly funny ... So it stands the test of time.” Farrelly said that this experience has resonated with fans, noting that reactions have been “sheer and utter over-the-top joy.” “You can hear their shouts and yelps from inside the container when they open the door and find some neat thing, or you can hear them talking about their favorite moments in the show,” she said. Incorporating those early questions about what the exhibit should include now makes it feel like “there’s something for everyone without it feeling watered down,” Farrelly added. “There’s really a sense of camaraderie between perfect strangers who've never met standing outside the photo moment or outside the container vibing on how much they love the show or particular under-the-radar moments in the show that are hidden throughout the container,” she said. Looking ahead to the remainder of “South Park: The 25th Anniversary Experience,” Farrelly wants fans to continue to have some attachment to the show. “I hope they leave with this sense of further connectedness and that there's this parallel right between how they feel about the show and how the show feels about them because where would any anything that's popular... be without the folks that care about them,” Farrelly said. AriZona Celebrates the Launch of Boozy Teas With a Totally Tubular ’90s Pop-Up

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South Park Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary With a Traveling Exhibit

The experience culminated in a sold-out 2-day concert in Colorado

Tiffany Moustakas

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Tiffany Moustakas