Above / When we met 14-year-old Hannah Coster, a Kris Bryant Cubs fan, we just knew she’d be a good PN reader. (The Bryant name runs in Penick family, so our two sons are convinced they’re somehow related to the 2016 MVP.)
PN arrived at the Naperville Municipal Center at 7:30AM Sat., Jan. 7. Cubs fans already were lined up around the building all the way to Webster Street. Â The frigid temperature was 2 degrees and rising slowly. Inside, 280 fans filled City Council Chambers, quietly watching a video of the World Series games. Another 120 fans camped out in the lobby.
PHOTO GALLERY / Click any photo to enlarge. Go, Cubs, Go!
[shareprints gallery_id=”68908″ gallery_type=”squares” gallery_position=”pos_center” gallery_width=”width_100″ image_size=”small” image_padding=”0″ theme=”dark” image_hover=”false” lightbox_type=”slide” titles=”true” captions=”true” descriptions=”true” comments=”true” sharing=”true”]We met Brandon Getzloff, age 33, and his wife Rosa, 32, who came from Carol Stream to see the trophy. Brandon said he arrived at 6:30PM Friday and found he’d be first in line in front of the Naperville Municipal Center. He spent the night in a heated tent, catching only about a half hour of winks all night.
Attired in pants he’d purchased from Loud Mouth Golf, Getzloff said he had been following news of the Cubs Trophy Tour on Twitter. In charge of Building Operations at Christ Hospital, his day usually starts at 5:30AM.
“I’ve been up since yesterday at 5:30AM,” Getzloff said from his front row seat in City Council Chambers. “With a half hour cat nap, I’m good.”
Letters to the Troops
While in the lobby, we overheard Suzanne Hammer suggest an idea to the City Staff Event team. When she noticed an Operation Support Our Troops America collection box on the table, she requested paper and pens so anyone waiting and interested could write notes to troops serving overseas in the military. In no time, city staff obliged and folks began writing messages.
Happy 25th Birthday, Kris Bryant
Inside Council Chambers again, we also were directed toward a young teen wearing a beautifully designed t-shirt emblazoned with an image of Kris Bryant.
Three days after Kris Bryant’s 25th birthday, Hannah Coster was celebrating her 14th birthday, waiting among Cubs’ fans to see the 2016 World Series Trophy. She and her family arrived at 6:08AM from Braidwood.
We snapped about 50 photos, capturing nodding heads, folks asleep, Cubs spirit wear and electronic devices of all shapes and sizes.
Outside, organizers counted another 550 fans in line at 8:45AM where the temperature had climbed to 7 degrees.
Then we headed back here to post the preliminary photos.
At 8:45AM members of the city’s Special Events Team said 950 fans were in line, wrapped all around the Municipal Center toward the Naperville Township Building.
2016 World Series Trophy on display from 11AM-1PM in City Hall
At 11AM, after the 2016 World Series Trophy was expected to be set in place of the table draped with the white tablecloth, folks will began “snaking” through City Hall until 1PM. The line outside ran all around the building, through the covered bridge and west along the Riverwalk to the Amphitheater.
Another set of photos was posted in PN’s gallery after the trophy was set. About 700 fans per hour meandered through the rows of seats in Council Chambers for the photo op.
Frigid cold as it was outside, the Cubs fans standing in line, many wrapped in blankets, exuded friendly warmth as they participated in the historic occasion. Though some expressed disappointment when the end of the line was designated and they weren’t in it, everyone will have a story to tell about the day the 2016 World Series Trophy came to Naperville.
What a hot time in the old town settled back in 1831, now the fifth largest city in Illinois.
FYI / The 2016 World Series Trophy Tour of the Midwest is sponsored by State Farm. To follow the tour to the next stop, visit www.cubs.com/trophytour.
Updated with subheads on Jan. 8, 2017
