South Elgin will be home to trampoline park

Just in time for the colder weather, a new way to have fun and burn off some energy indoors is coming to the Randall Road corridor.

In November, Epic Air Trampoline Park is expected to open near the intersection of Randall and Stearns roads in South Elgin.

The business will have six different trampoline court areas, with a total of 14,000 square feet of jumping areas.

The 30,000-square-foot building will hold a main jump court, a dodgeball court, a basketball dunk, a foam pit, a 68-foot long tumbling tramp track, and an age 7 and younger area.

There also will be a soft play area for smaller children that might not want to jump.

In addition to the play spots, there will be a concession area, which also has televisions, for people not jumping that day.

“We are excited about our park and think it’s a great fit for the Fox Valley region,” co-owner Kevin Rempert said.

Rempert said each trampoline court at Epic is composed of smaller trampolines that are all connected together by steel framing and pads, which makes a larger jumping surface overall. Each trampoline also has its own springs and bounces independently of the trampolines around it, he said.

In addition, there are angled trampoline walls that go around the large trampoline surface so no one can fall out, but you can literally bounce off the walls, he said.

Epic Air is an independent business started by Rempert, his wife Jill, and partner Mike Chamberlain.

Rempert says in addition to open jumps, the business also will be hosting birthday parties, fundraisers, group events, field trips, dodgeball tournaments, fitness classes and teen nights.

The idea for Epic actually formed when one of Rempert’s children attended a birthday party at another trampoline park.

His wife started researching the idea. They didn’t like the idea of franchises, because they thought they could do better and wanted to keep control of the management decisions, he said.

After hundreds of hours of research into opening their own trampoline center, they learned that it was going to be hard to get a bank loan for a startup company, and that this startup company was going to cost a lot of money, Rempert said.

So they teamed up with another partner, Chamberlain, and Epic Air was born, he said.

In anticipation of the opening, the owners continue to visit and research other parks in hopes of bringing the best to South Elgin, Rempert said.

Epic is open to people of all ages. In addition to the soft play area, the 7 and younger area is for children who have a parent or guardian with them. And the foam pit will have one lane dedicated to younger kids.

Even though they’re not required to jump with older children, Rempert said they’ve found that adults like to join in the fun too.

For everyone, he said, it will be a good workout.

“We like to call this exercise in disguise,” he said. “Children are having fun exercising and are away from their Xbox, computers, and TVs. Jumping burns 1,000 calories per hour. Match that.”

Rempert says that while fun is important, safety is the first priority at Epic. He said they hired a gymnastics trampoline safety instructor to design a safety manual for them. The instructor will also train employees on trampoline safety.

For information call (847) 608-0600.

Ÿ Amy Williams’ column covers business news as it pertains to the Randall Road corridor from Batavia to Crystal Lake. Contact her at randallbiz@comcast.net or (847) 894-5036.