David Hooper, who lives on Des Plaines Avenue just north of Madison Street, shared at the March 24 village council meeting his and his neighbors’ concerns about public safety around Pioneer Tap. Hooper said, on several occasions, he and his neighbors have picked up trash and drug paraphernalia outside the business at Des Plaines and Randolph. They’ve also seen Pioneer Tap patrons who appear intoxicated drive away or behave disruptively.
“It’s not just impacting Forest Park. It’s also affecting our local communities. If someone’s going on I-290, zipping off downtown, they’re hammered. There are ramifications to that,” Hooper said.
The Forest Park Police Department filed 24 police reports this year involving Pioneer Tap or its patrons, which were obtained by the Review through a Freedom of Information Act request. The reports cite the bar for eight noise complaints and patrons for a DUI, three fights, plus several parking complaints and cases of open alcohol outside.
With such recent charges, Forest Park’s liquor commission is taking action.
On April 17, Mayor Rory Hoskins, who is also the village’s liquor commissioner, sent a notice to Pioneer Tap to immediately cease alcoholic liquor sales because of village code violations. The bar was ordered to remain closed until Hoskins held a hearing on April 24 to determine the status of its liquor license.
At the April 24 hearing, Hoskins determined the bar would reopen that evening after serving its seven-day suspension. He fined Pioneer Tap $650 and entered into an order that Pioneer Tap’s owner, Marty Sorice, would develop a corrective action plan for the bar.
Sorice did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
According to the April 17 emergency closure notice, Pioneer Tap threatens the health and welfare of the village. Listed examples include complaints from nearby residents about large gatherings of people consuming alcohol and fighting outside the bar, and little supervision of those exiting the bar – who have repeatedly violated village ordinances through reckless driving after leaving, public urination, consuming alcohol outside, and noise violations.
The notice also cites a police report alleging that a Pioneer Tap patron discharged a firearm multiple times minutes into 2025 (police found casings in a nearby alley), plus allowing patrons to stay at the establishment past closing hours on at least two occasions last year (the village code says patrons can’t be in an establishment that sells alcohol past 1 a.m.). After Sorice failed to appear at Pioneer Tap’s hearing following one of those occasions, he was fined $750.
According to Title 3, Chapter 3 of the village code, a liquor license holder is required “to maintain the premises in a peaceable and orderly manner so as not to allow any employee, patron or member of the public to commit any act … so as to alarm or disturb another or to provoke a breach of the peace.” The code continues to say that this means a liquor establishment requires a sufficient number of employees to keep the peace, and that employees immediately notify police of criminal activity or fighting.
An establishment’s liquor license can be revoked for repeated violations of the village’s liquor code, local ordinances or state laws. The liquor commissioner decides whether to impose a penalty.
“It’s a privilege, not a right,” Village Administrator Rachell Entler told the Review about holding a local liquor license. “You have to maintain order and be a good neighbor in order to keep your liquor license.”
This isn’t the first time there’s been complaints about Pioneer Tap.
In October 2021, there was a liquor commissioner hearing to determine whether Pioneer Tap could keep its liquor license. The hearing came after an incident that July, when after a fight at the bar, a man tried to hit a pedestrian with his car. According to the village code, Pioneer Tap’s liquor license could have been revoked or suspended because the bar didn’t have adequate security and didn’t immediately notify the police of the fight.
Sorice and his attorney reported the bar was fully staffed on July 30, a man tried to throw a punch but failed to connect, then bar staff immediately removed those involved in the incident.
Hoskins, acting as liquor commissioner, determined that the village couldn’t prove alleged charges and declared no sanctions for Pioneer Tap.
The last time Hoskins took away a business’ liquor license was that of the Forest Park Tap Room, which was revoked in 2021. Hoskins also temporarily revoked Lantern Haus’ license that same year, reinstating it after the bar’s owner sued Forest Park.
