A group of nearly 100 Crown Point residents gathered downtown Wednesday to welcome hometown hero Casey Krueger back after she helped Team USA capture a gold medal in the Paris Olympics.
Krueger, who helped the American women's soccer team to their gold medal win, paraded through downtown Crown Point as part of a parade, complete with a ride on a fire truck and a police escort.
"Thank you for being here, the support means the world, this community has always been just so tremendous," Krueger said to the crowd. “We love this community so much."
A large portion of the gatherers were young soccer players, who now have a hometown icon to look up to.
"I want to be in the Olympics and I want to be a goalie in the Olympics," said youth soccer player Dylan James.
Other kids in the neighborhood spent the day making signs to welcome the star home.
"We had a big garage party and made signs and decorated their lawn and really went out to celebrate her," said Paul Jones. "It was super exciting to see her involved in the play action [in Paris] and give her input to what was going on, and she was excited and passionate about what she was doing.”
Local
The city proclaimed Wednesday 'Casey Krueger Day' to honor her success in the Paris Olympics.
Krueger grew up in Naperville and now calls Crown Point home with her husband and their child.
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