Coronavirus: SK8 City event turns into larger crowd than expected during pandemic

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A visit from a popular rap artist, Toosii, led to a sizable crowd outside of Sk8 City Fun Zone, in Arlington.

Hundreds of teens gathered outside of the venue on Sunday night, in hopes of enjoying a performance from, and catching a glimpse of the rap artist.

But, some parents are questioning the safety of this event, during a pandemic.

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Action News Jax Courtney Cole went to the owner, Terry Harris, for answers.

Harris, a partner with Sk8 City Fun Zone and a representative of THS Capital Ventures, told Cole the number of teens standing outside yesterday, did not reflect what it looked like inside the venue.

Harris said an independent promoter hosted the event and he had no idea there would be such a large turnout.

“It was pretty much a private event, but once the kids started putting it on their social media, it just went crazy,” said Harris.

He told Action News Jax Sunday’s event was supposed to be an easy task.

According to the flyers making their way around social media—a rap artist named Toosii was there to perform live and sign autographs for his fans.

“We had about 300 inside—and I think five or 600 outside— that was not allowed in the party,” Harris said.

He went on to say his facility is 40,000 square-feet his total capacity is 821.

When Cole asked him to explain what type of COVID-19 precautions he had in place, he said: “As you look around, you notice we have all of our signs posted, there is hand sanitizer at every location that you see.”

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Harris told Cole every young person that came inside was also given as mask.

“We just try to do the best we can to vet the promoters that come into our establishment. We don’t do this,” Harris told Action News Jax Courtney Cole.

Harris walked through Sk8 City to show Cole exactly why the City of Jacksonville Fire Marshal shut down the event.

He said he was asked to take down the stage he had set-up inside with barricades.

The COJ Fire Marshal also asked for two curtains to be taken down that were blocking fire exits, he wasn’t allowed to have an extension cord or a portable, retractable barrier.

“Moving forward, we won’t be doing anything big like that again,” said Harris.

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Photos: Large crowds gather outside Jacksonville skate park where shots were fired Just after 8 p.m. Sunday, police were at the Regency Court complex on Arlington Expressway for a separate, unrelated call, when they noticed a “very large crowd of people trying to enter the skate park for a concert.” ((Photo posted by Protective Enterprises Public Safety))

Cole spoke to a parent whose daughter attended the event. She said once she drove into the parking lot and saw how many kids were standing outside – she knew she couldn’t just drop her child off and leave.

“When we got there, there was a massive amount of kids there— and that was at 6:15,” said Davena Davis.

Davis told Cole her daughter encouraged her to allow her to go to Sk8 City Fun Zone on Sunday.

“The chaos wasn’t happening inside it was happening outside,” said Davis.

While Harris estimates there were between 500-600 young people standing outside,

Davis told Cole it looked like there were more.

“The concert was slated to start around 7:30. At 6:15, there had to be three or 4000 kids are there,” said Davis.

Whether the number of teens was in the hundreds or thousands, some parents have concerns with so many people in such close quarters during a pandemic.

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In the zip code Sk8 City is located, which is 32225, there are 3,176 covid-19 cases.

“I would encourage the promoter, I don’t know how they could track who all is coming, maybe you should’ve tracked the tickets, but a bigger venue would’ve been appropriate,” said Davis.

Davis believes in the long run, lack of better planning on Sunday, made yesterday a loss for Sk8 City, the promoter and ultimately the kids.

Health concerns over packed concert

Cox Media Group