Moncton Trampoline Park Bounces Back From Pandemic With A Larger Footprint
MONCTON–Atlantic Canada’s largest trampoline park has reopened a hop, skip and jump away from its former home in Dieppe.
Sky Zone Trampoline Park officially reopened at its new, 28,000-square-foot location at 615 St. George Blvd. on Oct. 29–and traffic has been steady since.
Taking a break from an influx of calls to the sound of kids jumping and climbing in the background, owner-manager Kathy Guitard said the move to Sky Zone’s new home was hectic but worth the trouble. A rash of drop-ins and birthday parties in the newly renovated party area are already filling up Sky Zone’s calendar.
“When the pandemic hit, we are a numbers-game, and we have a lot of traffic that comes through here–we’re a tourism company as well–so when people aren’t able to move around it definitely impacts our numbers,” said Guitard.
“We’re excited to open and everyone’s happy to be coming back.”
Sky Zone’s new location–its sole franchise in Atlantic Canada–can accommodate 200 people on the courts at once, more than what it could at its former location on 40 Champlain St.
Guitard said she and her staff of 35 are allowing in fewer people in at once, for the time being, until pandemic restrictions can safely be lifted.
Once pandemic pressures let up, Guitard said Sky Zone will pursue further expansion plans. Those plans include a new climbing wall, a zipline, and mega-slides.
“We’ve got a lot of space to expand into,” she noted.
Before it reopened, Sky Zone was forced by the Covid-19 pandemic, and pricey rent in a hot Dieppe retail corridor near the Champlain Place mall, to close and pack its equipment in 27 storage containers for 20 months.
“We put it all into storage, found a new location and felt the timing was right, on the back-side of the pandemic with all the vaccines and whatnot. And here we are,” Guitard said.
“We had to shut down to protect the company. Because of the nature of our business it didn’t make any financial sense to try and ride out the pandemic in the location we were in, so we did the responsible thing and packed up the park,” she added.
Sky Zone, which has seen everyone from toddlers to a 93-year-old grandmother jumping on its trampolines, has been open in Moncton since December 2016. Guitard noted the park is just rolling out its membership packages as well.
The trampoline park features an assortment of features in addition to its trampolines, including American Ninja Warrior-inspired obstacle courses, foam pits, jousting courses and jousting and dodgeball courts. There’s also a restaurant and, once licensing is in place, a bar for parents to grab a drink while the kids play.
“A lot of people are excited to get out of their houses to come and play,” said Guitard. “We’re very thankful and excited to have everyone back.”
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Sky Zone is owned by CircusTrix, the world’s largest trampoline and active entertainment developer, operator and franchisor that owns 300 trampoline parks across the globe.
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].