Everybody cut footloose!
This is absolutely not a joke. Police in St. George, Utah raided a family fun center that was hosting a Halloween party because the event included (gasp!)
dancing:
The “Monster Mash” was an event organized by the Heart of Dixie event group that advertised unlimited access to the bumper boats, go-karts, mini golf and a dance party. The event was to run from 9 p.m. Friday to 1 a.m. Saturday.
Sometime between 9:30-10 p.m., around five-six St. George Police officers arrived on scene instructing that no dancing was to take place, said Brett Crockett, owner of Fiesta Fun Center.
No, joke. Five to six police officers to shut it down. Organizers said police and city officials changed the permit AFTER it had already been issued:
The city issued a permit. We applied for a special event permit for a “dance”. It was issued. Then when they had no way to shut it down they produced additional pages to the permit that we were not given on which they had hand written that the dance was not allowed. Not to mention we were on private property, it is a first amendment right to dance, we weren’t playing music loud enough to be heard off the property and when the police were there NO ONE was dancing. They sent 6 officers to make sure no one was dancing! DANCING IS NOT A CRIME.
Police and city officials have a history of shutting down other dance parties. And since we're all thinking this seems like a scene straight out of
Footloose, let's kick of our Sunday shoes and
DANCE!