With an ice cream cone painted on her cheek and wearing a dress with colorful ice cream cones on it, 2-year-old Salwa Saleh, was the epitome of the ice cream social held Sunday in Hinsdale’s Burlington Park.
The event, hosted by the Hinsdale Hospital Foundation’s Junior Board, offered free ice cream to all comers with a choice of sprinkles, chocolate syrup, candy and other ingredients to top it off.
“We never run out of ice cream, but we ran out of toppings,” said Colleen Salvino, a member of the hospital foundation board and founder of the junior board.
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It was the 65th year for the end-of-summer party that also included carnival games, an inflatable obstacle course and an old-fashioned cakewalk, Salvino said.
For the cakewalk, placards with pictures of animals are placed in a circle on the ground. Children walk around until the music stops and the name of an animal is announced. Whoever is standing on that animal chooses one of the desserts and treats the junior board members brought, Salvino said.
The sunny weather with temperatures in the 70s drew an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 people, Salvino said.
“It was jam-packed,” she said.
The foundation’s junior board is comprised of 150 students from Nazareth Academy, Hinsdale Central, Fenwick, Lyons Township and other area high schools. Junior board members ran the games, scooped ice cream and led the crowd in a performance of the song “YMCA.”
Amita Hinsdale Hospital’s chief executive officer Michael Murrill and chief operating officer Adam Maycock joined the fun, hula hooping on stage, Salvino said.
The foundation’s junior board organizes and staffs community events throughout the year, including packing nonperishable meals for families in developing countries with the Feed My Starving Children organization and providing blankets for infants in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
