The third time was not a charm for the Cops and Rodders Car Show, which was scheduled for Sunday.
Organizers were forced to cancel the fundraiser for Special Olympics when strong storms with fast winds and heavy rains blew through town Sunday morning. It was third time in three months because of the weather. The event, organized for the first time by the Tinley Park Police Department, was to be held in the First Midwest Bank Amphitheater parking lot.
“The entire parking lot was underwater at the end of that rain storm,” said Sgt. Bill Devine, one of the organizers.
The car show, an event Devine still hopes will be held annually, was first scheduled in May. It was postponed until June because of poor weather and the unexpected death of Police Chief Mike O’Connell the week before, Devine. The June date was canceled as well, when event planners realized they didn’t have enough time to promote the new date.
Now, organizers are faced with trying to find a fourth date that will work before the end of car show season. With only a few months to go, Devine said he is unsure if that is possible.
“A lot of people put a lot of money out there for us and to not put it on now would be a disappointment,” he said.
Still, he doesn’t want to schedule the event when it might compete with other area car shows, he said. Devine plans to sit down with fellow organizers next week to see if there’s a date that would work between now and mid-September.
A second event canceled because of the weather Sunday won’t be rescheduled this year.
The Tinley Park Get Your Rear in Gear 5K Run/Walk was called off Sunday morning after lightning delayed the race more than an hour.
Event co-chair Celeste Hayward said even though the race was called off, the money for set up and staging had to be spent any way.
“Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate,” she said. “But all the expenses of running that event are still incurred.”
That means there’s no money left to try and reschedule the event.
Set up started at 5 a.m. Sunday when the weather forecast didn’t seem so bad, she said. Then the forecast took a turn for the worst and after delaying the 8 a.m. run by nearly an hour, event organizers agreed it didn’t appear the weather would improve in time to salvage the event.
“The weather reports just got worse and worse to the point where they said, flash flooding and at one point, 50 mph winds,” Hayward said.
She estimated the event would have had about 450 participants if it wasn’t for the weather, including those who wanted to register as the storm got started Sunday.
“It was raining and people were walking up wanting to register and donate,” Hayward said. “It was awesome.”
While the event didn’t go off as planned, Get Your Rear In Gear still collected more than $18,000 in donations, plus the $25 registration fee from each participant, Hayward said.
“From a fundraising standpoint, it was extremely successful,” she said.
The money raised will go to the Colon Cancer Coalition to help pay for the education and awareness of colon cancer, with 75 percent of it remaining local.
Because donations are still being accepted for this yea, Hayward said she is unsure what the total will be. But in the first two years of the event combined, more than $50,000 was raised.
To donate, go to the Get Your Rear in Gear website. The annual event will return for a fourth year on July 22, 2012.
