Concerts, eating contests popular at Naperville's Last Fling

The long Labor Day weekend was a time to "Fling" away summer in Naperville, but now it's back to business for organizers of the annual last hurrah.

Naperville Jaycees members were overseeing cleanup Tuesday after the four-day Last Fling festival in the city's downtown at Rotary Hill, Naper Settlement and along Jackson Avenue. On four days of warm, rain-free weather, concerts at the festival drew a combined 8,500 people, Jaycees member Danielle Tufano said.

The Jaycees are considering making a trend out of a free-admission Friday, enticing spectators to stop by for however long they can during an evening of opening night concerts, Tufano said.

They're also likely to bring back the traditional eating contests, which this year featured cupcakes, ice cream and spaghetti.

"It was definitely proven that the Naperville area loves to eat because we had a pretty great showing for all three of those competitions," Tufano said. "People can eat a surprising amount of food."

Runners also enjoyed the Fling Mile and the second annual Rooster 5K on Monday morning before the 51st annual Labor Day parade. But an attempt Sunday morning to break the world record of 515 people doing an exercise called the "burpee" at the same time wasn't as successful; it drew 87 people.

As fall sets in, Tufano said Jaycees are paying final bills from the festival and tallying the amount they'll give to charities that support causes such as homelessness prevention and hunger relief. She said a donations committee within the club researches organizations that apply for funding to ensure "the money is being spent the best it can."