St. Anthony’s Jeri Rawson always wanted to entertain people and thus created Jeri’s Sensation Rides, or JSR Entertainment, that she has owned and operated for the past 10 years.

Rawson plans to continue doing so this year once the state fully reopens following COVID-19 concerns. During the past decade, she has traveled throughout the Upper Valley from Ashton to Idaho Falls entertaining at community events and birthday parties. While JSR Entertainment provides her an extra income, she also finds it personally rewarding.

“It is worth my time even if I do suffer a financial loss. It’s just the feeling you get from happy people, happy customers and happy kids,” she said. “There’s nothing like a big cowboy getting on a Space Ball ride and screaming like a little boy.”

Rawson always wanted to own a business to supplement her income from Rigby’s Webster’s Potato Co. and the St. Anthony Senior Center. The two jobs free her up on weekends, allowing her to run her business.

Jeri’s Sensation Rides comes with seven different sizes of bouncy houses and is unique in that it also offers bumper car rides. Wherever Rawson goes, she sets up a makeshift arena where visitors can drive bumper cars around and into each other. The bumper cars can be driven by anyone young or young at heart, Rawson said.

“They’re big enough to hold an adult or a small child or two," she said. "If the kids are too short, parents get to ride with them."

Rawson noted that most people don’t get to regularly ride in bumper cars.

“The only time people are able to do anything like it is at the (Eastern Idaho) State Fair in Blackfoot,” she said. “I’m probably the only one in Idaho with bumper cars that are portable.”

Rawson says that bumper cars serve as stress relievers as well as providing fun.

“If you’re driving down the road, and another driver does something you don’t like, you get all upset with them. In a bumper car, you can take it out on them,” she said. “Once you get out of those bumper cars, you have absolutely no road rage left.”

Rawson said it might be a good idea for everybody to drive a bumper car before heading off to work.

“We should make it normal for everyone driving to work — they should first have to be in a bumper car to get ride of any road rage. Then you won’t get mad at people cutting you off,” she joked.

Every year, Rawson purchases a new piece of entertainment equipment. She’s currently considering buying a “big swing” that’s actually an “18-foot horse walker.”

Rawson says that starting and running a business is about making a personal investment.

“It’s investing in yourself. You have nothing to lose unless you don’t take that first step,” she said.

Rawson also said it helps to find your niche and to study what’s currently being offered by others in a similar business. She noticed that other bouncy house owners were charging $2 or $3 for just a few minutes of bouncing. Rawson decided to charge $5 a day and quickly found that her business boomed.

“That’s more price-oriented for big families,” she said.

Someday Rawson would like to set her entertainment business up in a building that would be accessible throughout the week, which would provide ongoing activities for Upper Valley families. A 1992 South Fremont High School, Rawson said there wasn’t much in the line of daily entertainment when she was growing up and says her business would provide such an amenity.

As a youth, Rawson occasionally visited Rexburg Rainbow Skating. When that rink closed, she purchased all of its roller skates and some day would like to incorporate those skates into her entertainment business.

A single mom to one son, Rawson created her business in 2010.

“I wanted to create the feeling of entertainment,” she said.

After saving $2,000, she purchased a single-seat space ball ride shipped from Oregon. Rawson didn’t make much money during her first two years in business, but by 2013, she had made enough to invest in additional equipment.

To run a business, it helps to have simple math, science and history skills, Rawson said.

“Just as long as you know basic math, you can get by running a business,” she said. “Knowing the history of the area and having a knowledge of what people enjoy doing helps. Learning how to scientifically design something helps. I was taught a little bit of mechanical background and a little bit of engineering. Self experience to life experience can teach you a lot."

Rawson noted that most new businesses fail after three years.

“I’ve lapped around that twice over. My other two jobs keep it afloat if I don’t make what I need to,” she said

The secret to Rawson’s business success is hard work and juggling multiple jobs, she said.

“The secret of it is sticking to it and trying to make it better every year,” Rawson said.

Between her three jobs, Rawson does get tired, but knowing that she has a business endeavor of her own more than makes up for it, she said.

“It’s been a life-changing endeavor. If I had chosen anything else, I wouldn’t be happy," she said. "It’s something that I can do on my own time. It benefits me psychologically. Physically, it really wears me out, but the satisfaction I receive is more than anybody could ask for."

For more information on Jerri’s Sensation Rides, call 208-227-6247 or visit JSR Entertainment LLC on Facebook.