Friday evening the Gower Middle School was the place to be in Burr Ridge, at least for the kids. Hundreds of middle school students and plenty younger won candy, snacked on pizza, competed for prize baskets and more at the annual Gower Fun Fair.
The fair is one of the year’s biggest fundraisers for the Burr Ridge middle school, and this year’s event was another big hit.
For many parents — and kids — the fair is a highlight of late winter.
“It’s fun,” said Lynn Salahi, a Gower parent with all the kids in tow. “I like it. My oldest is in seventh grade, so we’ve been coming for years.”
Salahi won a raffle prize, one of many given out. This was a big year for prizes, with more donated than usual, event chairperson Deanna Miron said the raffle proved to be the biggest moneymaker for the PTO, which in turn spends the money at home.
“The money goes toward teacher wish lists, scholarships, and field trips,” Miron said.
It’s charity that stays at home, which itself is reason to celebrate for some parents.
“We have three kids in this school,” said Heidi Enriquez. “We love the Gower community.”
Typically, the PTO likes to keep a little money in the bank to make sure classrooms are stocked with supplies — but this year that reserve is proving more important than ever. Miron said that as middle school classrooms have seen a bump in students, there’s been a real demand for more resources. The PTO is happy to help.
“This year our focus is making sure the classrooms are fully stocked. Usually, every year you see 80 to 100 kids per grade,” Miron said. “But this year there are 125 students or more.”
Besides the increased need in the classroom, Miron explained this year’s Fun Fair had some added needs, too. As with any after-hours school event, organizers have a tough time getting moms and dads to sign up to help out — potentially a big problem for a big event.
Besides the usual reluctance though, Miron said some of the lag was a holdover from COVID-19, as during the worst of the pandemic, the fair was canceled for a couple of years. This meant parents of the youngest cohorts didn’t take part in the fair and didn’t realize how big it was and how much it depended on parental volunteers to run smoothly because the one thing that never slows down is the kids.
“Attendance is never an issue,” she said. “We always have a little problem getting volunteers.”
But Friday night, as the fair wore on, lines moved quickly though following friends through the gym and cafeteria areas seemed as popular as any organized games. The fair even had its share of older kids, including Olivia Harding, in the eighth grade. She was in one of the longer lines, waiting for glittery hair accents with her friends, who spent their time in line catching up.
“It’s fun,” Harding said. “I get to be with my friends.”
Miron said the hectic nature of the fair is kind of part of it — more a draw than a drawback.
“It’s controlled chaos at all times,” Miron said.
Still, other kids were happy to let compete by proxy. One of the more popular games was the pig race, wherein kids watched wind-up pigs amble down a chute, ideally without getting stuck walking into the walls. Toward the end of the night, two boys eyed the ambling pigs, cheering their animals on from the sidelines as invisible pig mechanics independent of either boy determined a winner and loser.
The mother of one of the boys, Marda Lagunas, watched as her son Marco cheered his pig on against Louie Ocoia’s animal. The elder Lagunas had no pig in the fight, but she said she was having fun Friday evening watching the boys.
“I like watching them go through everything,” she said. “They’re like best buddies, competing in everything.”
Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
