A classic car show always draws a summer crowd, which was evident just outside of downtown Batavia Saturday as the Batavia Moose Lodge offered its fourth annual car show.
Lily Sullivan of Carol Stream and her boyfriend Preston Bernatek of Batavia were among the first checking out a host of vintage and modern cars that dotted the parking lot at the lodge at 1535 S. Batavia Ave.
“I had a ND Miata. It’s a daily commuter car but it’s considered a race car to my insurance,” Sullivan said. “I come to half a dozen cars shows a year. I’m drawn to them as people like to show (their cars) off, and talk about a common interest.”
Car owners, parents with kids and hard-core auto enthusiasts were all on board from the start Saturday morning, with volunteers like Moose member Marty Hamilton of Elburn noting the event always brings a crowd.
“I think car shows are a good way to attract people and there are a lot of ways to raise money but this works out pretty well,” he said. “People get out and enjoy it and you get to see them doing things together and that’s nice.”
The show also included giveaways, prizes, food and beverages and again served as a fundraiser for the Mooseheart Kids Christmas Fund.
Those electing to show off their cars paid a $15 entry fee in advance or $20 the day of the show.
Alissa Roy of St. Charles, who organized the event, said the fundraiser “was for kids who don’t have anywhere to go for Christmas.”
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“They come over to our lodge and we bring Santa in, we buy them their Christmas presents, and we buy presents for each individual home,” Roy said. “If they need a coffeemaker, we buy that, or a rug or whatever they need.”
During the first three years, the event has raised about $25,000 in total.
Each year, the show has averaged about 120 cars with many different makes, models and years represented, according to Roy.
“We’ve had brand-new Teslas, brand-new Ferraris and really cool old cars,” Roy said.
The idea for a car show as a fundraiser, she said, was born out of “my fiance who is a car mechanic and he loves cars and loves to go to car shows with his family.”
“It’s just fun,” she said of the car show. “We have a bunch of raffle baskets – a lot of local businesses donate and there are gift cards. We have a large 50/50 raffle as well, which is usually a big hit.”
Roy noted the car shows usually draw about 1,000 people.
John Bonner of Plainfield brought his bright green 2007 Bentley to the event.
“I bought it this way and I still would have done the same thing,” Bonner said about the color of his car. “People stare. It’s like a green highlighter going down the road.”
Bernatek said for him, his interest in cars stems from a “neighbor who really got me into it.”
“I’ve always liked cars since I was a kid. There are lot of video games that came out at that time and we played them together,” he said. “Then, someone I knew in high school had a car and he had a Camaro. We hung out and drove around together and I was like – I want to get my own. I got a Corvette and we started going to car shows together.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.