Sleepy Hollow corn roast will benefit Special Olympics

The Northern Fox Valley has a chance to give the Special Olympics Illinois a financial shot in the arm by attending the annual corn roast at Randy's Vegetable Stand in Sleepy Hollow on Sunday, Aug. 10.

Not only will revelers be able to taste locally grown corn during the height of the season, they will browse among arts and crafts booths, walk through a classic car show and buy tickets for giveaways that will be held during the afternoon.

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Randy's, 15N440 Randall Road, just north of I-90.

"We have events planned for the entire family," said Christine Gaitsch, who is organizing the roast with the Sleepy Hollow Police Department. "We'll have games for the kids and six raffles for a steer that was donated. The grand prize is 75 pounds of meat."

Twenty-five percent of the profits crafters collect will be given to Special Olympics Illinois. All the money collected will be put with the funds collected during this year's Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics.

Law enforcement agencies sponsor and conduct the run. Runners seek monetary pledges and run a relay race from the southern and north tips of the state carrying a torch. Eventually, the torch is carried to the Bloomington/ Normal area where the games were played in June.

This year, the torch run raised $22,000 for thousands of mentally and physically disabled Illinois residents to train and compete in athletic events.

"This will be the fourth year for our corn roast," Gaitsch said. "Last year, we raised $10,004. This year, we want to raise 50 percent more than we collected last year."

"This is a great event that has the cooperation of several people, businesses and local police," she said. "The Sleepy Hollow Police Department has spent months helping plan this. I became involved with the Special Olympics four years ago. I have to tell you; once you start, you get hooked. "It's a great organization."

For more information, visit randysvegetables.com.