Joliet's July 4th Raffle Of New D'Arcy Automobile Falls Apart

JOLIET, IL — Back in January, outgoing city manager Jim Hock convinced the Joliet City Council to include several thousand dollars in the 2021 budget to raffle off a new truck or sports utility vehicle from Terry D'Arcy Motors. Hock came up with the idea to help promote Joliet's transition of the July 4th fireworks show from Memorial Stadium to the Joliet Junior College.

As Joliet Patch reported in January, there will be no more 4th of July fireworks shows at Memorial Stadium, ever. That's to ensure the new $1.4 million FieldTurf softball diamonds at the Joliet Park District property do not get ruined from the fireworks.

In less than one month, Joliet's annual fireworks show will be held at JJC's main campus off Houbolt Road, for the first time.

The plan was for Joliet to pull the lucky raffle ticket on July 4th at the fireworks show at Joliet Junior College.

Hock said that Joliet would aim to sell a staggering 5,500 raffle tickets at $50 apiece. He also told the City Council that Joliet needed to sell 1,000 raffle tickets to break-even.

"I think these will sell pretty quickly," Hock remarked at the City Council's first meeting in January.

Hock, who came out of retirement to serve as interim city manager for Joliet from August 2020 until early this January, has since left Joliet to return to his native in Michigan.

Last week, unsure what became of the D'Arcy Motors automobile July 4th raffle, Joliet Patch interviewed Hock's replacement, Joliet City Manager Jim Capparelli.

According to Capparelli, Joliet decided not to move forward with plans to raffle off a new truck or SUV on July 4th.

Capparelli said that Joliet has no business being in the charity raffle business. He said that raffles are for non-profit organizations to sponsor, and not local government entities such as the city of Joliet, to oversee.

Patch reminded Capparelli that Joliet already approved putting money in the 2021 city budget for the July 4th truck or SUV raffle. If the raffle is not going to happen, what will the city of Joliet do with that money, Patch inquired.

Capparelli responded by saying that Joliet would help fund the July 4th fireworks show at the new location, the Joliet Junior College parking lot.

Back in January, Joliet Patch's article announcing the city's plans to raffle a new D'Arcy Motors vehicle on July 4th drew plenty of criticism from Patch readers.

Here's a sampling of their comments:

• I thought only charities could run raffles. Sounds fishy to me. Follow the money.
• You need a raffle license from the state for this and only a registered non profit organization can get one of those. And how much “on the clock” time is city staff going to spend running a raffle and collecting money raising funds for these two entities? Who is going to handle the money and maintain the integrity of the drawing? Is a city that’s in the financial situation of Joliet in a position to lay out $55,000 of tax payer money in hopes they sell 1,000 tickets? Upon what is Hock basing the assumption that these tickets will be an easy sell? This is a BAD idea.
• This concept should be put out to bid with other Joliet dealers. Always pretty cozy with one dealer is a bad look. Maybe another large dealer group (Hawk, are you listening?) will sell a truck for less than cost for the exposure?
• I think moving the fireworks all the way out to Houbolt Road is a terrible idea, there is only one way in and one way out and with no other choices around the area to sit and watch them, I feel Claustrophobic just thinking about it! It's going to be a catastrophe!!!

To read Joliet Patch's original story from Jan. 4, which was headlined: "July 4th Fireworks Moved, Joliet To Raffle New D'Arcy Auto," go here.