Kazoobie Kazoo Factory, Museum and Gift Shop
FUN FOR EVERYONE
story by JENNIFER BROWN-CARPENTER photos by TANYA LESHE’ PHOTOGRAPHY
Stephen Murray is a third-generation Beaufort native, attending Beaufort County public schools for K-12th grade and graduating from Beaufort High School. As is typical of kids in a small town, he could not wait to graduate and get out of Beaufort. He did move to Hilton Head Island for a few years and then to near Tampa, Florida.
While Stephen was in high school, he became involved in the theater program. He fell in love with it, and he got a job at the local theater in town. He began to think that he wanted to be a production manager. Since he knew that he wanted to get out of Beaufort, he started looking for jobs that would allow him the opportunity to tour with theater companies. He connected with Rick Hover, the King of Kazoo, who worked out of Hilton Head Island. Rick traveled 200+ days out of the year, playing kazoo at Carnegie Hall, the Kenedy Center, and even with a 30,000 person kazoo band in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Stephen was on the road with Rick for a year, serving as his production manager. Rick had purchased kazoos.com in 1997 before anyone else on the Internet could grab it, and since Stephen was growing tired of being on the road and living out of a suitcase, he volunteered to take over the kazoo website. He had dabbled a little in eCommerce before this and felt confident that he could take that part of the business over. He did take it on and ran it successfully for about a year when things unexpectedly shifted. The manufacturer in Michigan lost 60% of its business to offshore competition in Taiwan. He called Stephen and Rick, wanting to sell off the business. He gave them thirty days to make any decisions and get their orders in. Since he was their main supplier, this sent them into a bit of panic. They were afraid this would also put them out of business. Stephen was only 19 years old at the time. The two partners he worked for flew him to Detroit, MI, to look at the operation and how everything worked. He came home with the mindset: “it’s kazoo making… how hard can it really be?” Confidence and ignorance… success was guaranteed.
They purchased the assets and moved everything to Hilton Head Island, where Stephen worked for his two partners for several years until he and his wife bought all of the assets themselves. In 2009 they moved the whole operation back to Beaufort.
Kazoobie Kazoos is the only plastic kazoo manufacturer in the United States. Kazoos were invented in the US and are one of the few instruments that are American invented. Kazoos have actually been around the United States for 150 years. Kazoobie Kazoos is an international company, and they boast customers in 30 countries. They primarily provide kazoos to three different industries: music stores/music products, events/promotional products, and early childhood education in schools. The potential fourth industry bucket would be kazoo aficionados, clowns, and other “fun people who like to have a good time.”
Kazoos.com is the retail website where you can find all different types of kazoos, wind and rhythm instruments, whistles, and even nose flutes, as well as kazoo apparel. They also have the wholesale division where they sell their inventory to distributors and retailers across the globe. Kazoobie Kazoos also has its own kazoo museum and gift shop, with approximately 150 antique kazoos and other novelty antique items. They offer tours five days a week, perfect for anyone age 3 to 103, where they demonstrate some of their products and share about the assembly and packaging and how it is completed at the facility every day.
Kazoobie Kazoos brings all of the unassembled pieces of a kazoo to Beaufort and assembles them, imprints, packages, and distributes them. Of this small instrument, they make just over a million units a year. They are also a direct importer of ACME whistles, a company founded in the United Kingdom. Kazoobie Kazoos is the largest importer and seller of the ACME whistles in the United States.
About a year after opening Kazoobie Kazoos in Beaufort, they opened the museum, just putting some display cases up and placing some antique kazoos out front. Since people were coming to see them and learn new things about the kazoos, and since it had been a decade since opening, it seemed like a good time to make some changes and facelifts. A good friend of Stephen’s from Pittsburgh worked through a total remodel of the museum, featuring new display cases, additional antique kazoos that date back as far as the 1800s, and more interactive space with things you can touch and feel. There is also an American flag that is made of almost 3,000 kazoos on one of the walls. At the end of each tour, you will even be able to make your own kazoo.
You can tour Kazoobie Kazoos five days a week, Monday through Friday, and specific tour times can be found on their website: thekazoofactory.com. The tour is highly entertaining, as you watch a short video and then get to see the different types of kazoos being played. You’re sure to be impressed by some of the sounds that they are capable of making. You will also receive a kazoo lesson so that you can play your new kazoo and claim yourself to be a proficient kazoo player by the time you leave. These tours last 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the group and the number of questions.
The museum is open to the public and is free. You are also able to just access the gift shop to fill all of your kazoo needs.
Stephen is married to Melissa, the Director of Literacy for the School District, and has twin daughters: Genevieve and Josephine, who are almost 8-years-old. He also owns New South Shirts and is the Mayor of Beaufort as of November 2020. Stephen’s mom, JoAnne Visser, is the Vice President of Operations for Kazoobie Kazoos, which allows him the time to be the Mayor.
The Kazoobie Kazoo Factory tours are great for anyone of any age, whether you have musical proficiency or not. Kazoos are fun and will put a smile on your face. We could all use a little more joy, and celebration and kazoos are one of the best ways to make that happen. Book your tour for the Kazoo Factory today and go have some fun. It will be worth it.
