Save Our Restaurants March: Skooter's Roadhouse, Ted's Bar

JOLIET, IL — In spite of rising numbers of coronavirus cases, several Joliet area bars and restaurants continue to defy Governor J.B. Pritzker's rules prohibiting indoor dining and drinking. Now their supporters are organizing a peaceful march to send a strong message to the Illinois governor.

Fireman Ted's Bar & Grill at 2771 Black Road in Joliet and Skooter's Roadhouse at 700 West Jefferson Street in Shorewood are two of the locations where supporters of the Joliet area bars will gather to participate in a peaceful march starting at 1 p.m. Sunday.

"I just feel like enough is enough," remarked Chrissy Laage, one of the Save Our Restaurants organizers. "Too many people are struggling. People need the right to go to work every day to support their families. And if they choose to stay home that's OK too. But we need to be able to make that choice without repercussions."

Ted Peszynski, the owner of Fireman Ted's Bar & Grill, notified Joliet Patch he and his bar are not organizing Sunday's peaceful rally.

People will gather at Fireman Ted's Bar and Grill and end up at the Skooter's Roadhouse at 700 West Jefferson St. The marchers plan to stop at a few additional bars and restaurants along their route from Black Road in Joliet to U.S. 52 in Shorewood.

Fireman Ted's opened in March for just five hours only to be forced to close down until June because of Pritzker's drastic restrictions imposed on Illinois bars and restaurants to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

On Monday evening, a man named Robert took to the Fireman Ted's Facebook page offering his full support.

"It needs to be nation wide," Robert wrote. "We are dying a painful, miserable death in Las Vegas. We support you Teddy. Time for back to what was NORMAL!!!".

Earlier in the day, Patch reported that the Illinois Department of Public Health's website showed that as of Monday, Region 5 has a coronavirus positivity rate of 11.5 percent, Region 7's is 16.4 percent and Region 8 is 13.7 percent.

"The virus is winning the war right now," Pritzker said at Monday's news conference. "The situation has worsened considerably in some areas of the state."

Meanwhile, back in Joliet and Shorewood, Fireman Ted's and Skooter's Roadhouse, like a number of local bars and restaurants, continue to remain open for indoor guests.

On Monday, the owner of Thayer Bros. Deli on Joliet's Ruby Street told Patch that Thayer's will resume indoor dining and takeout orders starting Wednesday after being closed for more than a week because of the coronavirus.

Although Skooter's is closed Mondays, the nearby Bedrocks Bar had several people seated around its Shorewood bar on Monday night.

On Wednesday nights, even in recent weeks despite the coronavirus pandemic, the Skooter's parking lot along West Jefferson Street is packed.

According to its website, Skooter's hosts Wild Wednesdays starting at 7 p.m. featuring karaoke and line dancing plus a variety of $3 drink specials.