By Gary Nager
If you weren’t one of the thousands of people on hand when the Rotary Cub of Wesley Chapel (noon, which meets Wednesdays for lunch at Ciao! Italian Bistro in the Shops at Wiregrass mall) hosted its third annual Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC) Freedom Festival on July 3 at the mall, you missed perhaps the single largest single-day event in the history of not only the Wiregrass mall, but perhaps also in the history of the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel areas.
Although this reporter estimated that anywhere from 5,000-10,000 people attended the festival this year, event chair Jeanine McLeod says that the mall itself estimated there were nearly 30,000 cars in its various parking lots on a stifling hot evening that also included about 15 minutes of heavy rains an hour or so prior to the evening’s outstanding fireworks display.
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Although final totals were still being tabulated, McLeod told her fellow Rotarians the Wednesday after the event that almost $30,000 was raised during this year’s Freedom Fest, which eclipsed last year’s record total. The net proceeds will be donated to the various charities the club supports. Congrats to McLeod, Little Miss & Mr. Firecracker Contest (see winners below) chairs Jennifer Cofini and Robyn Liska, Bike Decorating Contest chair Pablo Rivera, DC, Watermelon Eating Contest chair Vicki Hamilton and all of the event’s sponsors and participants.
Among the major sponsors for this year’s festival (in addition to FHWC) included McIlwain Dentistry, Saint Leo University, Paradise Palms, Pasco Hernando State College, Impact Fitness, Brightstar Chiropractic, Rasmussen College, The Tutoring Center, Habitat for Humanity of East & Central Pasco, Barbizon Modeling & Acting Centers, Parks Ford & Parks Fiat of Wesley Chapel, Cash 4 Gold Wesley Chapel, Mike Moore for County Commissioner, Danny Burgess for State Representative, SmartHealth Inc., Ken Chase of Home Buyers Marketing II! I apologize in advance to anyone I missed.
Congratulations also go out to this year’s Little Miss & Mr. Firecracker Winners:
Little Miss Firecracker 2014 – Madison Bahs!
Little Mr. Firecracker 2014 – Brayden Weis!
Ages 3 months-24 months winners – Bryse Leonard & Holly Mueller
Ages 2-4 winners – Jacob Gordon & Avery Alberger
Ages 5-8 winners – Zachariah Cullens & Ziya Boyd
Again, congrats to everyone associated with the 2014 Freedom Festival. I’m sure we can expect an even bigger and better event next year!
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