LINCOLN PARK — "Laxapalooza" has a silly name, but there's a serious theme to this year's event.
Saturday's high school lacrosse tournament — featuring seven local teams and run by Lincoln Park High School girls lacrosse and field hockey coach Megan Brown — will halt for a few minutes for all 200 players to hold a moment of silence and for some of them to clutch a "Bring Back Our Girls" sign in honor of the schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria.
Photos from the moment will then be shared on social media, joining countless celebrities and dignitaries — including First Lady Michelle Obama — who already have tried to draw attention to the kidnapping.
"It's almost the same number of girls who were kidnapped," Brown said of the number of participants in Laxapalooza. "Our girls are so fortunate to live in a country where they have freedom and safety, and those girls just don't have that.
"Hopefully they'll get saved before [Saturday] or found. In the meantime, this is what we're planning on doing."
Justin Breen joins DNAinfo Radio to talk about "Laxapalooza:"
The signage will be provided by the Bring Back Our Girls Chicago group. That includes a 6-foot-by-2½-foot red banner with white letters that reads: "They Are Our Sisters And Daughters ... #BringBackOurGirls ... Please Rescue Them."
"We're happy to support them in every way we can because every bit helps," said Bring Back Our Girls Chicago spokesperson Lande Sanusi, a native of Nigeria. "[The girls] are still not back home, so we need to keep their awareness up."
Wednesday marks the one-month anniversary of the kidnapping, where more than 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigeria were taken from their dorms. The group Boko Haram has threatened to sell the girls into slavery.
Brown, who starred in a national Scrubbing Bubbles Mega Shower Foamer TV commercial earlier this year, hopes Saturday's gesture makes a difference.
"Just to try to keep the pressure on," Brown said. "It's so sad."
The tournament, which began in 2012, will run from 12:30-7 p.m. Saturday at Montrose Beach's turf soccer fields.
Participating teams are Lincoln Park High School, Whitney Young Magnet High School, Northside College Prep, Lane Tech College Prep, Fenwick High School, Nazareth Academy and Mather High School.
