Every year around the end of June, people from near and far gather in Riverside to participate in the annual Riverside regatta, a kayaking trip along the portion of the Des Plaines River that borders the village.
This year’s regatta on Saturday, June 28 — the 10th iteration since the event began — drew about 20 participants, according to Alex Gallegos, a founding member of the event through the Riverside Township Lions Club, of which he has formerly been the president. Gallegos is also a village trustee.
The group met around 10 a.m. at Schuth’s Grove, a Forest Preserves of Cook County area just outside North Riverside, and set off around 10:30, Gallegos said. They passed under the Swinging Bridge at some point around noon before gathering afterward for lunch at Dulce Mami Cafe in downtown Riverside.
The debriefing afterward makes “for great conversation and laughs. We talk about so many things that longtime Riversiders will come back just for that portion, just to talk about the old days and how things were growing up,” Gallegos said.
The regatta was created in 2017 as a way to memorialize Schofield “Scuffy” Gross, a longtime member of the Lions Club and American Legion Post 488 as well as the Riverside Township assessor for four decades. A dedicated member of the Riverside community, Gross died on July 4, 2016, at 88 years old. The first regatta was held on June 25, 2017, Gallegos said, which would have been Gross’s 89th birthday.
Gallegos organized the first regatta in collaboration with Tom Sisulak, the commander of American Legion Post 488, and Connie Schmidt, one of Gross’s three daughters.
“My dad loved the river, and he loved Riverside,” Schmidt told the Landmark.
She said she, Gallegos and Sisulak were the only members of the inaugural regatta, which served as an unofficial trial run.
“It was fun, and we enjoyed it. We said, ‘Let’s bring other people out onto the river.’ This is what my dad would love, seeing Riverside residents enjoying this fabulous amenity and landmark in the town,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt, who lives in Warrenville in DuPage County, said she attends the regatta every year. Her sisters, Cindy Gross and Christie Muse, do their best to make it, too, even though they now live out of state, she added.
“The fun part is visiting with all the people who are excited to get out on the river with their different water backgrounds. There were brand new kayakers to river kayaking,” Schmidt said. “There were all ages [this year]. The pastor from the Riverside Presbyterian Church was there with his dog all the way down the river. I think sharing the joy of experiencing the river with others is the purpose, so it was very successful.”
Schmidt gave props to Gallegos for his work in creating and sustaining the regatta year after year.
“Alex has done a lion’s share,” she said. “He had a banner printed nine years ago when we did the first big one to include everybody. The banner is hung on the Swinging Bridge; he gets out, and he hangs it up and stores it, and he does PR work on Facebook. Alex has been a huge supporter of it.”
Schmidt said she and her sisters “are honored and thrilled” that a memorial for her father, who she said was a lifelong fan of the Des Plaines River, has brought people together year after year to experience it firsthand in the wake of the demolition of the Hofmann Dam in 2012.
“It was dangerous, and it impaired safe travel up and down. It’s a much healthier river now, and I think my dad would love that it’s flowing much more cleanly, and it’s a lovely place,” she said. “When we were young, it was a dangerous place to be. ‘Don’t put your hands in the water. It’s dirty.’ There were drownings by the dam, and it was dangerous, and now, it’s a lovely amenity.”
She said the trip down the river each year gives her “a whole other view” on Riverside.
“It is amazing seeing our beloved town and our neighbors’ and friends’ backyards from the perspective of the river,” Schmidt said. “It’s like when you fly over a community, you get a different view. Well, when you float through it, and you see Swan Pond or go under the Swinging Bridge instead of strolling across it, it is different.”
