Cars and treasures draw people to Oak Forest fair

Al Hicks was on his way to a Father's Day breakfast with his family Sunday when he spotted the fire red 2003 360 Modena Spider Ferrari.

"It's beautiful," said Hicks, of Crete. "Absolutely beautiful."

That's more than most people said when they saw Sam Rolph's Ferrari at the Oak Forest's Metra train station at 159th Street and Cicero Avenue.

"Usually it's one word: 'Wow'," said Rolph, of Oak Forest.

The car was on display as part of the city's inaugural arts and crafts fair and classic car show.

And though he hadn't planned on it, Hicks made an impromptu stop to admire the Ferrari. His daughter, Allana, 17, snapped a few shots of it with her cell phone.

"I love fast cars," she said as she flashed a grin.

Oak Forest father and son Frank and Dan Para donned "World's Greater Grandpa" and "World's Coolest Dad" T-shirts as they checked out the sports car. As Dan Para eyed the Ferrari, his eyes wandered to the few classic cars across the lot.

"For the price of one of these, you can probably get a dozen of those," he said with a chuckle. "I guess I'm old school."

By early afternoon, there were dark clouds in the sky and only five cars at the show.

"The weather is keeping a lot of cars away," said Tom Ceska, who organized the event with his wife Rhonda. "But all the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society for Relay For Life, so we're happy."

Nancy Evitt and her daughter came out from Chicago's Mount Greenwood community. Evitt spotted a "designer-inspired" Coach purse at Patti Griffin's Bag Ladies booth, bought it and displayed it for the rest of the afternoon.

"The key chains caught my eye and it just went from there," Evitt said.

Natasha Pitcock, of Frankfort, sold a number of her fused glass necklaces to residents as interested in the process as the final result.

"They want to know how I do it," said Pitcock, owner of Art's Desire.

Volunteers including Mark Judge, of Oak Lawn, were out early setting up for the event. As he chatted with Oak Forest Mayor Hank Kuspa, the two were adamant that the car show and arts and crafts fair should become an annual tradition.

"This is a great way to promote Oak Forest in a positive way," Kuspa said. "This is the first year of hopefully many to come."

Duaa Eldeib can be reached at deldeib@southtownstar.com or (708) 633-5960.

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