By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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LOVES PARK — Michele Fosberg was watching a soccer game at the busy Indoor Sports Center when she saw the potential for the family bar and restaurant business to expand.
Less than 3 miles down the road is Fozzy’s Bar & Grill, a business owned by her husband, Nick Fosberg. And the Skybox restaurant at the top of the sports complex was in need of new operators.
“I remember driving home and sending him a message saying, ‘We can do big things there,” Michele Fosberg said. “Then the opportunity came up and here we are.”
Those “big things” got their official start on Tuesday. The Parks Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of Fozzy’s Skybox, which overlooks the artificial turf fields inside the Indoor Sports Center, 8800 E. Riverside Blvd.
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The Skybox is a blend between bar and restaurant and entertainment venue. It features four golf simulators that can also be used for basketball, football, soccer, carnival games and other activities. Fozzy’s is already running indoor golf leagues with the simulators.
In the warmer weather months, the Fosbergs plan to host live music on the Skybox patio, which has a 100-person capacity overlooking the soccer fields. There’s also pinball, darts and video gambling machines.
“That’s what I was most excited about: It’s more of an entertainment venue, fun for all ages,” Nick Fosberg said. “You can go to any bar or restaurant, sit down, eat your food, watch the TV, listen to music, but here you can actually entertain yourself with interactive games — and there’s so many different ones to play.”
The Skybox had been dormant for almost two years after shutting down amid the coronavirus pandemic. After previous private ownership, the Rockford Park District took over operations in November 2019 only to have their efforts halted in March 2020 when the pandemic took hold.
Park District officials said they then looked for the opportunity to turn the business over to private operators, allowing the district to focus solely on the recreational aspects it does best.
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Nick Fosberg has run bars and restaurants in the area for a dozen years, and last year Fozzy’s opened its first location in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
“We’re just excited to have a partner that’s passionate about doing this, that knows what they’re doing,” said Louis Mateus, general manager of Mercyhealth Sportscore complexes. “It’s going to succeed. There’s no doubt in my mind.”
The Fosbergs have already seen how busy the complex can get on Friday nights, when hundreds of athletes flock to the complex for indoor soccer games on the artificial turf.
Fozzy’s Skybox quietly opened for a training period about two weeks ago and was flooded with customers coming in and out of the venue.
“The very first Friday that we opened, we were going to try to stay at 50% capacity — we ended up at 100% capacity,” Fosberg said. “It’s crazy how busy it is.”
Fozzy’s Skybox will have a slightly smaller menu than the bar and grill a few miles down Riverside Boulevard, but it will still serve its signature cocktails and about 70% of the food customers of the bar and grill know. It also carried over a customer favorite — bang, bang shrimp — from the previous iteration of the Skybox.
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Nick Fosberg said he plans to use the Skybox to host corporate events, team-building gatherings and other business parties.
“This is just another thing that shows how we work very hard to get businesses to come to the city of Loves Park,” Mayor Greg Jury said before the ribbon was cut.
Winnebago County Board Chairman Joe Chiarelli said the Fosberg family is a “staple in this community,” and he backed up Jury’s claim about the city’s efforts to support business.
“I’ve done more ribbon cuttings in Loves Park than anywhere else in this county,” Chiarelli said.
More photos | Fozzy’s Skybox
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas.