Amaze Light Festival, a company that claims to bring cheer to holiday families across the Chicago area, has been accused of leaving a trail of unpaid debts and lawsuits in its wake. Despite the allegations, the company has continued to put on dazzling light shows around the Chicago area, bringing joy to many.
Kim Scerine, who has run the nonprofit dance troop “On Broadway Dancers” based in Coal City for more than 30 years, is one of the community members affected by Amaze Light Festival. Her dance troop performed three times a night during last holiday season at the Amaze Light festival in Tinley Park.
The On Broadway Dancers performing one of their daily shows at the Amaze Light Festival in Tinley Park (2022)
“Many of my dancers gave up their winter jobs so that they could do this. We also left school early many times. We were 45 minutes away from the venue,” Scerine told NBC Chicago. Despite the hard work put in by the dance troop, they are still waiting for Amaze Light Festival, also known as “Artistic Holiday Design LLC” to pay them the $48,000 they say they’re owed as outlined in their contract.
NBC 5 Responds began digging into Artistic Holiday Design LLC and its owner Derek Norwood. Police reports detail a 2021 altercation involving Norwood and an organizer of the 2021 Amaze Light Festival in Rosemont. Body camera footage shows officers responding to the Aloft Hotel and eventually escorting him out. Norwood was later charged with battery and was eventually found not guilty in a bench trial.
Norwood captured on Rosemont Police Body Camera video from 2021 Battery Incident. Norwood was found not guilty in a bench trial
Soon after the incident, Norwood sued the City of Rosemont for allegedly trying to derail the 2021 light show. Months later, the village of Rosemont filed a countersuit, alleging Norwood’s company failed to fulfill its obligations. Now, Norwood’s company is engaged in legal battles with almost a dozen other companies in New York, Florida and Illinois, who all allege his company hasn’t paid them for services such as venues, transportation and staffing. The amounts allegedly owed by Norwood’s company add up to millions of dollars.
Among those still waiting to be paid include Odyssey Fun World, the site of last year’s Tinley Park light festival and the Tinley Park Police Department, the latter of whom are owed $80,000. As for the light festival, a lawsuit filed by Odyssey Fun World alleges that Norwood prematurely ended the festival and left behind dozens of large holiday decorations.
“At any given time, during the day, we had anywhere from eight to 15 police officers that were out there, and then probably six to seven traffic control personnel,” Tinley Park village manager Pat Carr said.
This isn’t the first time Norwood has had issues with his business ventures. NBC 5 Responds found bankruptcy filings from 2010 that show Norwood ran another holiday lights business that ended up more than a million dollars in debt to dozens of creditors. In 2021, a letter from First Bank to the village of Rosemont showed that all the money Norwood made from his light festival in Rosemont had been garnished by the bank as part of a “loan agreement.”
Norwood declined to be interviewed, but in a statement, he told us:
“Thank you for contacting us regarding the Amaze Light Festival from last year. We are in an ongoing public lawsuit with Odyssey Fun World, so I am not able to provide a lot of information based on that. What I can say is they have wrongfully held our assets and we are extremely disappointed. Unfortunately, our light festival fell well short of our minimum expectations as far as revenue. This has caused a major financial gap and we have been working on a recovery plan since January and We have and will continue to be transparent with all vendors concerning this. We never projected the event would fail but we take FULL
