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the Mokena Messenger | July 6, 2017 | 37
Can’t rain on their parade
Joliet Slammers game rained out, but Mokena Chamber of Commerce still has fun on Mokena Community Night
The Mokena Chamber of Commerce’s Fourth of July Parade Committee poses for a photo
during the chamber’s Business After Hours event June 28 at Slammers Stadium in Joliet.
Photos by Adam Jomant/22nd Century Media
Attendees gather at the beginning of the Business After Hours.
Jason Maholy
Freelance Reporter
One of these years, Mother
Nature will cooperate,
and Mokena Night at Silver
Cross Field will proceed as
planned.
One year after 100-degree
temperatures followed by
severe storms kept people
away from the Joliet ballpark,
a downpour and the
threat of inclement weather
washed out what was intended
to be a celebration of
Mokena at a Joliet Slammers
Frontier League baseball
game Thursday, June 29.
The Mokena Chamber of
Commerce’s second-annual
Mokena Night was slated to
feature a performance by All
About Music & Children’s
Theatre’s “Momentum”
singers and a ceremonial
first pitch thrown out by Mokena
resident and longtime
Fourth of July Parade Committee
Chairwoman Cindy
Gamboa. The chamber had
sold about 100 tickets to the
game, and through its partnership
with the Joliet Slammers,
the chamber would
have received half of the
cost of each $10 ticket.
The evening began with
the chamber holding its
Business After Hours event
in the Silver Cross Field
Hall of Fame Room. As the
evening’s featured guests
prepared for their moment
on the field, a downpour and
the threat of storms passing
through the area for another
two hours prompted the
Slammers to postpone the
game versus the Schaumburg
Boomers.
Chamber President Troy
Griffiths said the event was
intended to get Mokena residents
and community groups
together for a night of baseball.
Griffiths was among the
night’s featured guests, as he
had been tabbed to sing the
“Take Me Out to the Ballgame”
during the seventhinning
stretch.
“Last year didn’t really
know what to expect, but
after partnering with [the
Slammers] and building
upon that, we wanted to
invite other groups to participate
with us,” Griffiths
said. “Hopefully we’ll keep
this partnership going in
the future and grow it each
year.”
Griffiths said the Parade
Committee and All About
Music would have the opportunity
to perform their
pregame duties at a future
contest, but the date for Mokena’s
return to Silver Cross
Field had not been determined
by Monday, July 3.
All About Music had been
invited to perform because it
is a Chamber member, and
the children “have better
voices than we do,” Griffiths
said.
Mokena resident Ava Briscoe
was one of eight girls
in “Momentum,” a singing
troupe that was scheduled
to sing “The Shoop Shoop
Song” and “Boogie Woogie
Bugle Boy,” in addition to
“The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Ava, 12, has been a
student at All About Music
for six years, but as she sat
in the Hall of Fame Room
awaiting the call to the field,
she acknowledged having
butterflies.
“I’m a little nervous,” she
said. “I’ve never performed
in front of a lot of people before.”
Feeling decidedly less
nervous was Gamboa, who
got the call to throw out the
first pitch because she is celebrating
her 20th year heading
the Parade Committee.
Gamboa wore a bright red,
collared Parade Committee
shirt and a sparkling tiara.
“I’ve been planning the
parade for 20 years; I’ve
got to look like a rock star,”
Gamboa said of why she was
a wearing a tiara.
She said the crown is just
one of several she owns, and
she wears them for activities
as mundane as cleaning the
house.
Gamboa was excited
when Griffiths asked her if
she would like to have the
honor of throwing out the
first pitch, she said.
“I was like, ‘I’ve got
this,’” she said. “It will be
good, it will be a fun thing to
do and, clearly, I’m not shy.
I didn’t know it was on my
bucket list, but then once I
heard of it I was like, that’s a
cool bucket list thing.”
Chamber Executive Director
Melissa Fedora expressed
her appreciation
to the Slammers for being
willing to accommodate
the Chamber’s requests to
showcase members of the
Mokena community.
“That’s what’s so cool, is
to be able to incorporate the
community into the community
night,” Fedora said.
“And they’re so accommodating
about different things
we can do and different ways
we can get the community
involved. It’s really neat to
be able to highlight people.”
Chamber officials (left to right) Leticia Martino, Melissa Fedora and Ed Kasza mingle.
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