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WNIJ's summary of news items around our state.

Chicago Cubs World Series Trophy Made Its Way Through WNIJ Listening Area

Katie Finlon
/
WNIJ

About 4,000 people in the WNIJ listening area got a chance to pose with the Chicago Cubs World Series trophy last weekend. It made its way to Naperville on Saturday, along with Freeport and Rockford on Sunday.

Mike Peck is business operations director for the Rockford Ice Hogs. He says people started lining up at around 8 a.m. to be one of the guaranteed 1,500 ticket holders to pose with the trophy.

That game was sold out, and Peck says there were little events throughout the game that revolved around the trophy.

“Obviously, with nearly 6,500 people in the building, we just weren’t going to get everybody through to see the trophy in the timeframe that it was here,” Peck said. “So we felt it was extremely important to have a strong theme for the night and continue on the celebration for Cubs fans that have really been partying hard since the beginning of November, there.”

Little Cubs Field owner Denny Garkey says people started lining up at 6 a.m. at Freeport’s Masonic Temple to see the trophy.

Garkey says it ended up in the city as a result of a deal made between him and Chicago Cubs officials about five years ago. The organization promised Garkey they’d bring the trophy to Little Cubs Field when they won the World Series – but Garkey went for another location, given weather concerns.

“It was wonderful,” Garkey said. “I mean, it was a culmination of years of work for us, and obviously the Cubs and for Cub fans, it meant the world that Freeport, Illinois, is within the Cubs universe.”

About 2,000 people came to see it in Naperville – some of them camping outside overnight. That's according to city officials.

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