Algonquin's Founders' Day fest wraps up with races, pageant

Leon Rebodos, his wife and four children would probably be the perfect representatives for Algonquin's annual Founders' Days Festival.

The Algonquin family spent Sunday morning running the milelong portion of the town's morning races, which also included 5-kilometer and 10-kilometer legs.

The family wore race shirts imprinted with 11-year-old daughter Caroline's winning design.

Later that morning, Caroline changed out of her running gear and into a dress to present a crown to one of the winners of the Little Miss and Mister Founders' Pageant, the same one she won a year ago.

A day earlier, Leon spent the day riding on a float made by his church while singing to the crowds that had gathered to watch the parade wind its way through the downtown area.

By Sunday afternoon, Leon was unwinding at a crafts table with the rest of his family, wife Jean, and daughters Lauren, 13, Callie, 9, and Lyndsay, 4, crafting bird feeders for the back yard.

"We just wanted to support the cause," Leon Rebodos said. "The organizers do a great job with this fest every year, so we wanted to do whatever we could to be a part of it."

Roughly 275 runners kicked off the final day of the festival by running along Algonquin's streets in the Founders' Run 5k and 10k races.

Members of the Lake in the Hills-based Center for Performing Arts spent part of the day performing a variety of dance ensembles.

And nine little boys and girls then strutted on stage to compete in the Little Miss and Mister Junior Founders' Pageant.

Seven-year-old Veronica Lee won in one of the three categories, in part, by showing off her hula hoop skills.

"It was a lot of fun," she said of the experience.