Sky Zone trampoline park in Orland Park to stay open for now
ORLAND PARK, Ill. - A trampoline park in the south suburbs is back in business after the village shut it down for safety violations.
The Sky Zone went to court on Tuesday to get an emergency order to stay in business.
Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau, however, says he still wants to bounce the trampoline park out of town.
"Anyone who sees that video, any parent that sees that video would be scared to death," said Pekau.
On September 12th, Orland Park police responded to reports of a fight that they say they were barely able to get inside the Sky Zone to investigate.
They estimate between 700 and 1000 people, mostly kids, were jammed inside creating a dangerous situation.
"It could’ve been anything that set that crowd off and there would’ve been people severely injured or killed. And it’s just unacceptable," Pekau said.
The mayor says the situation went from bad to worse when Sky Zone closed early, sending hundreds of kids into the parking lot without anyone ready to pick them up.
"We ended up calling 50 other officers from neighboring towns in total to control the crowd because these kids were in danger, running around the parking lot," Pekau said.
On Monday, the Orland Park Village Board voted unanimously to pull Sky Zone’s business licenses permanently.
But on Tuesday, Sky Zone filed suit against Orland Park and got an emergency order allowing them to remain open, so long as they limit capacity to 125 and provide private security on weekends.
In a statement, a spokesperson says, "There is no legitimate basis to revoke Sky Zone’s business licenses and (it’s) a dramatic step without precedent."
They also deny they were over capacity.
Customers arriving to Sky Zone Tuesday night were largely unaware of the village’s attempts to shut down the trampoline park.
"I had no idea about the incident that happened in September. Had I known that I doubt it would’ve made a difference in my decision tonight," one man said.
"It’s fun because we really haven’t done much in months. We don’t go out a lot," one girl said.