Lombard Group Fighting To Keep Christmas-Themed Haunted House
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CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Lombard community organization that was denied a permit to operate a Christmas-themed haunted house has pledged not to give up.
The Lombard Village Board said it rejected the permit based, in part, on concerns about added traffic.
Officials at Lombard Commonwealth, formerly Lombard Jaycees, said more than 100 kids took part in designing, building, and staffing a haunted house during Halloween at a strip mall near Yorktown Shopping Center. It's a 43-year tradition.
The group's president, Jackie West, said they were excited about keeping the excitement going next month, with some modifications for a spooky Christmas festival.
She didn't buy the board's argument the haunted house would tie up traffic. West said she thinks it might have more to do with bad feelings over the group severing ties to the Jaycees and forming the Lombard Commonwealth.
"They've gone about sabotaging our organization," she said.
The plan for "The Frightmare Before Axe-Mas" also generated some opposition from people questioning whether it would be appropriate.
However, West insisted the Christmas-themed haunted house would be tasteful.
"It's not like its going to be Satan Claus biting the head off of Rudolph. There's no manger scene. It's not going to be blood and gore, but my kids absolutely will try to scare people when they come in. That's what they like to do," she said.
West said the kids designed a Rudolph Room, and rooms based on "A Christmas Story" and "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," among other attractions.
She admitted there was some discussion, perhaps joking, about creating a Village Board room, where the trustees would be depicted as Grinches.
West said, if the village board won't re-consider, one option is operating the haunted house for only three days, instead of the planned nine days, which wouldn't need the Village Board's approval.
