Most wonderful time of the year? Lawsuits prompt competing light shows in Rosemont and Tinley Park
The dueling news releases went out two months ago to the date this Sunday and Monday.
The first, from a Chicago public relations firm that promotes Rosemont's entertainment offerings, quoted Mayor Brad Stephens, who was touting a re-imagined holiday light experience "sure to be the area's premier light festival."
The following day came an "important note" from a New York City-based publicist.
"Amaze Light Festival, identifiable and unique in many ways, is not affiliated with any other light festivals happening in Rosemont IL or in any other area," wrote Ashley Goldstein, of the Alab Group. "Since there are other light shows popping up in Rosemont, we want to make sure that there is no confusion for your readers that Amaze Light Festival is an exceptional holiday experience different from any other festival happening in the Chicago area."
Behind the shiny lights and holiday cheer at each show - Sparkle Light Festival at Impact Field in Rosemont and Amaze Light Festival at Odyssey Fun World in Tinley Park - there are a lawsuit and countersuits, discovery and depositions, claims over money and missed payments. A bomb threat and a fight were also part of the drama that led Rosemont and its former light show operator to go their separate ways.
Lemont-based Artistic Holiday Designs, which took its Amaze fest to Tinley Park and a sister show outside Citi Field in New York, sued Rosemont and the Chicago Dogs baseball team in April. The litigation alleges breach of contract in a dispute over the promotion and operation of the show last winter at Impact Field.
Rosemont and the Dogs, operating as Rosemont Entertainment Group LLC, filed countersuits in June.
As the separate holiday shows go on this winter - Artistic set up its displays at the South suburban family entertainment center grounds, while Rosemont and the Dogs are running an in-house presentation on their Northwest suburban baseball field - attorneys for the parties are knee-deep in litigation.
They're set to finish written discovery by Dec. 30. Dogs co-owner Shawn Hunter and Chief Operating Officer Trish Zuro will sit for depositions in January, and a status hearing to set a trial date is scheduled for April.
In its suit, Artistic alleges the village and minor league baseball team didn't pay their initial share of capital costs for the original festival held Nov. 12, 2021, to Jan. 2, 2022, at the village-owned stadium, stymied efforts to put on a quality show, and manufactured reasons to artificially depress the value of the event so as to deprive the company of its share of revenues.
The company is seeking damages including a "rightful" share of revenues. It alleges its cut was reduced from $1.1 million to $304,000 with wrongful deductions.
Rosemont and the Dogs said in their counterclaims that Artistic installed inefficient lighting fixtures, a bad audio system and an unsafe pedestrian path; didn't provide adequate staffing to run the event; missed payments for marketing efforts and a field protection covering; and didn't provide status reports on the ordering of parts, as required for the village and Dogs' capital contributions under the contract.
The village and baseball team also blamed Artistic for displaying a radioactive symbol with the word "WARNING" on Impact Field's electronic message boards - a Nov. 27, 2021, incident they reported to the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. But Artistic said the village "blew the incident out of proportion" and that the message was displayed after visitors left to warn the staff that snow machines were going to "purge the pumps" at 11 p.m., according to court filings.
Even before the show's opening last year, tempers flared in the Aloft hotel lobby bar between the Dogs' Hunter and Artistic CEO Derek Norwood. According to a Nov. 2, 2021, police report, what started as an argument - with Hunter telling Norwood to stop sending aggressive emails to Dogs staff members - led to grabbing and shoving. Norwood later was charged with battery.
In an interview with the Daily Herald this week, Stephens said he came to know Norwood and his company as the U.S. distributor for holiday light design and decor manufacturer LeBlanc Illuminations.
The village and Dogs were considering going with another vendor to put on the Impact Field light show.
"But we thought at the 10th hour, let's give this guy a shot," Stephens said. "If we provide him the stage to become successful, he's successful, we're successful, and we both are successful together."
After renting a display from Artistic for the village waterfall, Stephens and his staff thought the company had a good track record. But now he thinks doing bigger productions "was outside (Norwood's) wheelhouse."
"When talking to him and planning this thing out, he would take no advice from anybody," the mayor said. "We work big productions. We know that stuff. We do that all the time in Rosemont. At least let us give input."
Norwood didn't respond to a request for comment.
The competing Rosemont/Dogs and Artistic displays are but two of the many holiday light shows and experiences vying for the suburban family dollar this time of year. From Magical Christmas at Santa's Village in East Dundee to Willow Hills Lights in Northbrook, Stephens acknowledged there's more competition. At the same time, families are limiting their discretionary spending because of inflation, he noted.
"These things were very well-received (during the pandemic) because people had no place to go, and now, (the market is) flooded," Stephens said.
And while ticket sales in Rosemont aren't what they were last year at this time - for a show that eventually grossed $3 million - the village and Dogs hope to save money in the long run after having purchased their own equipment and running the show again in-house in future years.