I didn’t expect to be here this way.
When my dad passed away last year, everything changed—personally, emotionally, and professionally. Overnight, I found myself stepping into a role he had carried for years: leading a business built with his hands, his heart, and his belief in taking care of people.
The truth is, I always knew this business would one day become part of my responsibility. I just imagined that chapter beginning much later in life, maybe when I was 50 not 38.
All Star Rentals has been part of my life for a long time. My dad and brother started the business in 2002. Not long after, my brother passed away unexpectedly. I remember my dad sitting me down when I was about sixteen and asking if I wanted to keep the business going with him.
I didn’t hesitate.
Around that same time I had watched The Wedding Planner with Jennifer Lopez and remember thinking how incredible it would be to help create the moments that bring people together like weddings, birthdays, graduations, and the celebrations that mark the milestones of life. Saying yes wasn’t just about work. It was about family and continuing something my dad believed in.
So I grew up in the business.
Over the years I learned just about every part of it, working with customers, helping plan events, setting things up, and solving problems. In many ways, I came to know the business as well as my dad did. But he was very old school and liked to run things his way, so for a long time I stayed in the role of supporting and learning beside him.
I thought I would keep learning from him for many more years.
But life has a way of changing the timeline.
Now I find myself guiding the business forward much sooner than I ever expected, learning how to lead while grieving at the same time.
Grief is a strange companion. Some days it’s quiet. Other days it shows up when you least expect it. But through all of it, one thing became very clear: life doesn’t pause. Birthdays still happen. Couples still fall in love. Families still gather together. The moments that matter most keep moving forward.
And those moments are exactly why this business exists.
At the end of the day, what we provide at All Star Rentals isn’t just tents, tables, chairs, or inflatables. Those are simply the tools. What we really help create are the spaces where people come together.
Where families sit down and share a meal.
Where kids laugh until they can barely catch their breath.
Where weddings, graduations, and backyard gatherings turn into memories people carry with them for years.
Taking on the responsibility of leading this business has been both an honor and, if I’m being honest, a little intimidating. When something has been built by the people you love most, you feel a deep responsibility to get it right—for the team who works beside you, for the families who trust us with their celebrations, and for the legacy my dad worked so hard to build.
But with that responsibility also comes opportunity.
For the first time, I have the freedom to guide the business forward in my own way, making thoughtful improvements, modernizing where it makes sense, and continuing to grow while protecting the heart of what my dad built.
Because this business was never meant to be about being the biggest. It was about taking care of people and showing up when families needed help bringing a celebration together.
That’s the legacy my dad built.
And it’s the one I’m proud to continue carrying forward for the families we serve, for the team who makes it possible, and for my own kids and the generations of our family who will come after me.
So we’ll keep doing what we’ve always done.
Helping families celebrate.
Setting the tables.
Raising the tents.
Creating the spaces where memories are made.
And doing it with the same heart that started it all.
-Heather Spaugh, Owner