The great games of Rockville Centre

Continuing a tradition of inventive fundraisers, village real estate agent and restaurateur Niall Gunn is organizing the second Rockville Centre Olympics for October.

Gunn, a Realtor with Daniel Gayle Sotheby’s Rockville Centre Office and owner of Monaghans Restaurant and Bar, was the mind behind the Elf Yourself fundraiser of the last two years -- when Rockville Centre residents dressed as elves and gathered to try to break the world record for the most elves in one place. Though no records were set, those events last year and in 2013 raised thousands of dollars for charity.

“I’m an outside-the-box thinking for things like this,” Gunn said.

His latest event is the second Rockville Centre Olympics. The first took place in March, and had teams facing off against each other in a series of games at local bars and restaurants. Heavy snowfall hampered the event, but Gunn still managed to raise $8,000.

This time, Gunn is upping the stakes. He’s hoping to get 30 teams of eight players. To be qualified to enter, each player would have to sell at least $100 worth of $5 raffle tickets. He’s hoping to raise at least $20,000.

The winner of the raffle will get $1,000. There will also be a prize of $800 for the winning team, and $200 for the runner-up, as well as many gift certificates for other teams for local stores and restaurants. All of the money raised will go to the 2016 St. Patrick’s parade, which each year donates money to a local, national and Irish charity.

“In my 10 years here, I’ve always been interested in raising money for charity,” said Gunn, who is also on the Parade committee.

The Olympics would pit the different teams against each other in a series of games spread around the downtown area. There would be bowling, basketball, Scrabble, hula hooping, darts, corn hole, Kan-Jam, trivia, beer pong and more. Gunn is working with many different establishments in town so that teams will walk around the downtown area and do different events at different locations.

“It’s fun,” Gunn said. “It gets all the businesses in the town involved.”

The second Rockville Centre Olympics will be held on Oct. 11 from 2 to 6 p.m. and will feature up to 15 events and up to 30 teams. People interested in forming their own teams should contact Gunn at (516) 318-5948 or email niall45gunn@gmail.com. Team members would need to raise the $100 by the day of the event.