Gower Secondary School Fun Fair attracts hundreds of students

On Friday evening, Gower Middle School was the place to be in Burr Ridge, at least for the kids. Hundreds of middle school students and scores of teenagers competed to win candy, snack on pizza, prize baskets and more at the annual Gower Fun Fair.

The fair is one of the biggest fundraisers of the year for Burr Ridge middle school, and this year’s event was a big hit as well.

For many parents and children, the fair is one of the highlights of the end of winter.

“It’s fun,” Gower parent Lynn Salahi said of being around all the kids. “I like it. My oldest is in seventh grade, so we’ve been coming for years.”

Salahi won a raffle prize, one of many prizes given away. Deanna Miron, event chairperson, said this was a big year for prizes, with more donations than ever before, with the raffle being the biggest win for the PTO and the PTO spending the money at home.

“The money goes towards teachers’ wish lists, scholarships and field trips,” Miron said.

It’s a stay-at-home charity, and for some parents, that’s cause for celebration in itself.

“We have three kids in this school,” Heidi Enriquez said. “We love the Gower community.”

Typically the PTO likes to keep some money in the bank to ensure classes are stocked with supplies; but this year it turned out that this reserve is more important than ever. Miron said there is a real demand for more resources as middle school classrooms see an increase in the number of students. PTO will be happy to assist.

“Our focus this year is to ensure that classrooms are fully occupied. You usually see 80 to 100 kids per classroom each year,” Miron said. “But this year there are 125 or more students.”

Miron explained that in addition to the increased need in the classroom, this year’s Fun Fair also has some additional needs. As with all after-hours school events, organizers struggle to get parents to sign up to help; This can be a big problem for a large event.

Besides the usual reluctance, Miron said some of the delay was due to COVID-19, as the fair was canceled for several years during the worst of the pandemic. This meant that the parents of the youngest groups were not present at the fair and did not realize how big the fair was and how much it depended on the parents’ volunteers to keep it running smoothly because the one thing that never slows down is the children.

“Participation is never an issue,” he said. “We always have a little trouble finding volunteers.”

But the lines moved quickly as the fair progressed Friday night, but following friends through the gym and cafeteria areas seemed as popular as organized games. The fair had its share of older kids in eighth grade, including Olivia Harding. She was in one of the long lines waiting for her sparkly hair highlights with her friends waiting in line.

“It’s fun,” Harding said. “I’ll be with my friends.”

The hectic nature of the fair is sort of part of it, Miron said, more of a draw than a drawback.

“It’s always controlled chaos,” Miron said.

Still, the other kids were happy to compete by proxy. One of the most popular games was the pig race, in which children sauntered wind-up pigs down a drain, ideally without getting stuck in the walls. Towards the end of the night, two children looked at the wandering pigs and applauded their animals from the sidelines as invisible pig mechanics independent of each child determined the winner and loser.

Marda Lagunas, the mother of one of the boys, watched as her son Marco cheered his pig against Louie Ocoia’s animal. The elder Lagunas didn’t have a pig in the fight, but he said he had fun watching the kids Friday night.

“I love watching them go through everything,” she said. “They’re like best friends who compete in everything.”

Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for the Pioneer Press.