Remembering 6 of the Best Rockford News Stories from 2016

For second year in a row, the city of Rockford was able to virtually eliminate homelessness among the veterans in our city. According to the Rockford Register Star, Mayor Larry Morrissey appeared on CNN earlier this month to discuss how it was accomplished.  Morrissey said, "What we did was work in collaborative partnerships, accountable partnerships, We held ourselves accountable to meet the goal and we made it very personal."

Rockford has already started to see a spike in tourism now that the new state-of-the-art UW Sports Factory is open. WIFR reported that 3,200 people attended the factory's grand opening shootout tournament this summer and the numbers and the appeal should start to grow with the addition of Owly Oop Sports Pub..

Former Boylan High School football player, Dean Lowry, was drafted by the Green Bay Packers this past spring and was kind enough to chat with me and Steve on the Steve Shannon Show in September.

2016 marked the first year of Rockford Day, appropriately scheduled for August 15th because 8-15, duh. On Rockford Day we celebrated everything that makes this city great like, local businesses, shops, vendors, restaurants and so much more. We're already looking forward to next year.

Labor Day weekend we learned that the International Women's Baseball Center is moving to the home of the Rockford Peaches. According to Steve Shannon "the IWBC is moving their facility in California, to a building across from Beyer stadium;" the official announcement ceremony was held on September 3rd.

Rockford's very own, Cheap Trick, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in April. Billboard gave them a mention in the "10 Unforgettable Moments from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2016 Induction Ceremony" for Rick Nielsen's comments about wanting to do a song with N.W.A.