You've probably heard by now that we hosted the Region's first Rock River Quidditch Tournament from April 26-28 in our great city. While the tournament itself was certainly a big success, it was the Kidditch Camp on Friday that helped shape this memorable event for the Region.

As we prepared to host quidditch, 97ZOK generously offered its promotional support to help make the event a success for Rockford. And the Kidditch Camp, hosted by the ISU Firebirds, was born!

While visitors to our region and the economic impact that follows are important for all of us, the Kidditch Camp was different. It was new. It was in-kind. It was light-hearted. It was a foundation for sustainability. It was quality of life. It was free! And it came with fun activities, social interaction and engagement, one-of-a-kind ZOK Kidditch Camp t-shirts, and pizza.

For two hours, eyes lit up -- parents and children alike. Steve Shannon, Andi Brooks, Sweet Lenny and the rest of the 97ZOK crew emceed and played music. The campers and instructors sang as they played quidditch. After the camp and after the pizza, Steve Shannon stayed longer, signing autographs on the backs of campers' t-shirts.

I captured that image on, as you might expect, my iPhone. In this age of smart phones and social media, it seems like things come and go in an instant. But this image is burned into my memory. It brings back memories from my childhood. And my hope is that it'll remain with those campers for as long as they can remember.

Kidditch Camp