Erick Roder Is Building Fargo Businesses Around Adventure and Joy
Rodemerica was born from a blizzard-day dream. Bounce House Party grew out of hard lessons about margins, logistics, and what families need. Together, they show how Fargo founder Erick Roder is learning to balance passion with practicality.
By Erick Roder’s own telling, the strangest thing about his business life is also the simplest:
“My garage for my van is more profitable than my van.”
Rodemerica—his camper van business—is his passion. The vision. The thing he built because he had to.
Bounce House Party—the indoor birthday venue on Page Drive—is the one that works on paper. The one that makes sense. The one that, so far, has produced real, consistent profit.
One is built around freedom. The other is built around efficiency.
Together, they tell a much more honest story about entrepreneurship than most founders are willing to admit.
Built on Escape
At first glance, the two businesses don’t seem related.
Rodemerica is about the open road. It’s a fully equipped camper van with beds, Wi-Fi, workspace, and just enough structure to make remote work possible from anywhere. It’s designed for people who want to see Zion, Sedona, or the Tetons without burning all their PTO.
Bounce House Party is the opposite. It’s a fixed, controlled environment designed for kids’ birthdays—private, clean, simple, and predictable.
But look closer, and the connection becomes clear.
Both are selling escape.
One takes you out of Fargo
The other gives parents a break from chaos.
The Dream
Rodemerica came first
Like a lot of good North Dakota ideas, it started in the middle of winter, watching snow pile up and wondering why work had to be tied to one place. The concept was simple. If people can work remotely, why not build something that lets them do it somewhere better?
Somewhere warmer. More interesting. More alive. Roder didn’t just think about it he had it built by the team at Vanna Vans in town.
And then he lived it.
He’s taken the van to Medora,
Yellowstone, Zion, Sedona, the Grand Tetons, and beyond. One trip in particular, taken with his cousin after their grandmother passed, still sticks with him.
“That was a forever trip,” he said. “This van is my soul.”
The Reality Check
The challenge is that passion doesn’t always translate cleanly into profit.
Rodemerica launched into a very specific moment—when travel was constrained due to the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work was booming, and demand for alternative experiences was sky-high.
That moment didn’t last.
More people went back to the office. Inventory in the RV and camper market surged. Prices dropped, and demand softened.
“It’s not just me… the market shifted,” Roder said.
But he’s not walking away from it. Because not everything you build is meant to be optimized first. Some things are meant to be figured out over time.
The Pivot
Bounce House Party wasn’t a grand idea. It was a necessity.
When Games Galore closed— where Roder had been general manager—he needed a place to store the van. That’s it. That was the starting point.
He found a warehouse that happened to be bigger than he needed and that led him to an idea.
“Oh, I know what to do with half of a warehouse.”
What followed was pattern recognition
During his time at Games Galore, Roder had seen what worked and what didn’t.
Big attractions were exciting, but operationally fragile because of expensive transport, heavy labor costs, and lots of variables.
- Expensive to transport
- Labor-heavy
- Dependent on too many variables
“They’re cool… but every time we took the dunk tank somewhere, we lost money.”
So he stripped it down to the simplest, most reliable part, which is birthday parties.
The numbers made it obvious. Low overhead. Minimal staffing. Repeatable procesS.
More importantly—control.
Instead of competing with large venues packed with people, Bounce House Party offers private experience.
No lines. No chaos. No outside variables.
“If you control how many people are there, there are no lines,” Roder said.
Designed From Experience
Bounce House Party isn’t flashy. It’s intentional.
Every detail comes from something.
- Kids wandering off when overstimulated » built a quiet room
- Adults wanting space » added a mezzanine lounge
- Setup friction » streamlined booking and layout
- Noise issues » improved flooring and acoustics
“I just took what worked… and fixed what didn’t.”
“I just took what worked… and fixed what didn’t.”
For Roder, neither business is the full picture on its own. One feeds the soul. The other keeps the lights on. And somewhere in the middle is where the real work of entrepreneurship happens—figuring out how to hold onto what excites you while building something that actually lasts. He’s not pretending to have it all solved. But in a world where most founders only talk about wins, that honesty might be the most valuable thing he’s building yet.
Bounce House Party
bouncehousepartyfargo.com
Facebook | Search “Bounce House Party”
Instagram | @bouncehouse
Rodemerica
rodemerica.com
Facebook | Search “Rodemerica”
Instagram | @rodemerica
