Everything old was new-and fun-again at last weekend`s fifth annual Zion Nostalgia Days. The two-day festival brought back beach parties, be-bop and the glorious, gleaming, gas-guzzling autos that were a big part of the American Dream of the `50s and `60s.
The weekend`s main event was a classic car show, organized by the Midwest Ford Club. Row upon row of classic cars, 311 in all, sparkled in the sunlight at the festival grounds in downtown Zion. Show visitors also got to enjoy a hit parade of old rock `n` roll tunes, broadcast over loudspeakers, along with plenty of burgers, bratwurst and other food.
A bearded Waukegan T-shirt vendor who insisted that his name is Dredless Rasta brought back the images of the late 1960s with his selection of homemade, tie-dyed shirts, shoes, shorts and even underwear. ”I dye daily. It`s a great way to earn money, especially now that tie-dyes are really popular,” he said.
For the first time, the not-for-profit Nostalgia Days Inc., which organized the festival, included Friday night events in the festivities. Attendance at the beach party/dance, at Illinois State Beach, was phenomenal, according to Kathy Lerner, one of the group`s planners. ”We had no earthly idea what to expect, but people just kept coming and coming,”
The only fizzle of the evening was the celebrity lookalike contest. ”We had one Elvis lookalike, and there were four guys who got up and said they looked like the Beach Boys. Then somebody said, `Hey, there were five Beach Boys, so they grabbed a blond kid out of the audience and pulled him up there with them,” Lerner said.
Official attendance estimates weren`t available, but Lerner said she thought as many as 20,000 to 25,000 people stopped in for some part of the weekend`s festivities. Cars clogged the spectator-lined Sheridan Road from the Illinois State Beach entrance all the way to the state line, Lerner added.
Proceeds from the weekend will be donated to the City of Zion, the Zion Park District and the Emergency Services Disaster Agency for various projects.