Inflatable Ok, Just No Pink Gorillas Please

There was once talk of putting a 30-foot pink gorilla wearing a diaper on the top of the Huntley Outlet Center for a promotion.

Nothing ever came of the idea, but some village trustees may have had déjà vue last week when a new business requested a permit to put up an inflatable to promote its grand opening.

General RV, which recently completed construction on its new facility in the Huntley Auto Mall, does not know what type of inflatable it will use, but village staff showed a few example of the size. The examples included a gorilla, a Godzilla-like dinosaur and Uncle Sam.

The RV retailer also requested permission to put up another sign, which trustees said would be fine.

“I don’t have a problem with an additional sign," Trustee John Piwko said. “I have a serious problem with the inflatable device. It’s not up to our standards,” he said, adding he would be concerned it would fly away with a strong wind.

“I can see an inflatable that looks like a hot air balloon,” Trustee Pam Fender said. “This Godzilla in front of the building, I’m not going for that.”

A General RV representative said the company did not know what type of inflatable it would use because it wanted permission from the board before committing to the display.

The grand opening is scheduled for June 8-11.

Trustees Paul Mercer and Niko Kanakaris said they had no objections to the signs or whatever inflatable the company decided to go with, even a gorilla.

“I think for three days, I would go along with it,” Trustee Harry Leopold said, agreeing with the majority of the board.

“We want to see what it is before you do it,” Mayor Charles Sass said.

General RV is expected to be before the village board again this week with more information.

In other village board news:

Trustees got a look at the lowest bid for a contract to paint Huntley’s water tower, located off of Route 47.

Contractor Era Valdiva submitted a bid of $275,000, Village Manager Dave Johnson said. The amount is over Huntley’s budget by $25,000 because the village discovered it must do additional work to repair the tower’s exterior before the painting is done, Johnson said.

The board will vote on the contact this week.