Our History

FUNJUMPS.COM (Acadiana Fun Jumps) is your original FUN JUMP® Amusement Rental Company in Louisiana and in the USA. We are located in the great community of Lafayette, Louisiana and our Williamson family owned and operated business has proudly served all of Acadiana and the surrounding areas since 1985.

Believe it or not, but FUN JUMPS all started at our kitchen table in our modest family home, 30 miles west of Lafayette, in the small quiet town of Crowley.

Back then, Madeleine's cousins (Mike and Mary Frances Cullen) were the new owners of a Lafayette-based inflatable amusement franchise sold to them by her uncle, John Scurlock, called Space Walk. Mr. Scurlock was an engineer from New Orleans and he was the actual INVENTOR of the first-ever inflatable bounce house...Yes, THE ORIGINAL INVENTOR! Our family, knowing Mr. Scurlock personally, was told by him about how his invention came about all those years ago when his own kids were little. He said that, in looking for a way to keep them entertained outdoors, he thought up the idea to engineer a safe, durable and inflatable bounce-pillow which, at the time, had no roof and the pillow stayed inflated with the use of an electric blower fan.  It was, he said, an instant hit with his children and once other kids tried it, Mr. Scurlock was inundated with requests to sell others like it or rent the one he had. And so is the story of how the inflatable bounce house, that is popular throughout the world today, came to be.

Now, back to Mike and Mary Frances....Mike was an Assistant D.A. in New Orleans and Mary Fran was a stay-at-home mother of their two children. They juggled their time in between homes in New Orleans and Lafayette as they tried to get their new franchise off on its feet, while Mike maintained his law career. After several months of practicing law during the week and delivering inflatables during the weekends, he and Mary Francis realized that they had taken on too much. Their family could no longer handle the pressures of both responsibilities, and they asked Doug and Madeleine if they would be interested in taking over their business.

Without hesitation, they agreed and the business, which they originally named Acadiana Fun Jumps, was born. (Later on in the late 90's when the internet became more popular, the progression to name the company by its website monicker, FUNJUMPS.COM, took shape.)

Beings that ours was one of the first companies of its kind in Louisiana, many a weekends were spent as a family riding around in our "Here Comes Fun" cargo van while we delivered our inflatables to places all over the state. Jacob and Jessica used to use the rolled up Fun Jumps as seats in the van, and the straps that bound them as seat belts! (These were the days before the seat belt laws came into effect...that's how long ago this was! ; )

During the summers, while Doug was working full-time as an oil and gas abstractor, Madeleine and the kids worked together as a team delivering to area homes and day cares while growing the family's small weekend business to a busy full-time company in need of outside employees. Eventually, Doug was able to resign his job as an abstractor and he and Madeleine moved their business out of their home and into the commercial location near where it is today on Johnston Street. By 1992, the entire family had moved from that same home in Crowley and all continue to reside near each other in Lafayette today.

Though everyone in our family has had separate careers both inside and outside of Fun Jumps, we all still help out a little from time to time when we're needed. Today, Jacob and Doug are at the helm, and our cherished business is doing better than ever with the continued support of our family, dedicated employees and our amazing community of loyal patrons.

Now, as we approach our fourth decade of being in business, we're looking forward to the future and are anxious to see what the next generation of Williamson's has in store for our family's company and, no doubt....the sky's the limit!!