McHenry VFW Queen of Hearts game tops $1 million again; amphitheater plans scrapped for now

If the right ticket is drawn Tuesday in the McHenry VFW Post 4600′s Queen of Hearts game, a lucky winner will walk away with 50% of the $1,057,020 pot.

The game has sat above $1 million for the past three weeks, said post Commander Ben Keefe. Just nine cards have been uncovered since Feb. 13, when the game reset with a new deck after both Joker cards were pulled from the last deck.

“It could go tomorrow or go to the last card,” Keefe said Monday of when the queen of hearts may be pulled, giving them a winner. “We have had every combination you could think of” in the past before the card was picked.

When the game is over, 40% of that pot goes to the VFW for its own projects – which will not be a previously discussed amphitheater. The Post 4600 board went in front of the McHenry Planning and Zoning Committee on April 18, getting its nod of approval for plans to place that amphitheater adjacent to the baseball fields east of the main building.

“Planning and zoning approved it, with a bunch of conditions,” Keefe said. “We have decided to move in a different direction.” Those conditions included a major upgrade to the existing outdoor bathrooms, which could have doubled construction costs, he added. “It ballooned into more than what we were thinking.”

The plan as presented to the zoning commission would have built an amphitheater for outdoor music performances. The proposed spot is on a hill and would have allowed concert attendees to sit in the baseball outfield.

“It didn’t affect baseball in any way, shape or form. They would be sitting on the grass,” he said. “Our intent was to work around the baseball schedule,” to host outdoor concerts, Keefe said.

Instead, plans now are to use the funds raised via the Queen of Hearts to renovate the banquet hall “to look less like a bingo hall,” Keefe said. That portion of the building has had several additions over the years “that just made it bigger every time,” he said.

The board is looking at increasing the banquet hall’s ceiling height, update the decor, and upgrade the bathrooms to ADA code. “They are decent bathrooms but we would like to have them be nicer,” Keefe said, adding the board hopes those upgrades would be ready by late 2025.

Tickets are $5 each and can be bought until 7:30 p.m. Tuesday for the 8 p.m. drawing at the McHenry VFW Post 4600, 3002 W. Route 120 in McHenry.