(Hannah Gunnell/South Indy Connect photo) The annual Wanamaker Old Settler’s Days Street Fair and Classic Car Show featured nearly 200 cool and classic cars on Sunday.
By HANNAH GUNNELL
Cool and classic cars lined Southeastern Avenue Sunday as part of the annual Wanamaker Old Settler’s Days Street Fair and Classic Car Show.
(Hannah Gunnell/South Indy Connect photo) Franklin Township Resident Alan Miller shows off his car and his artwork. He had several paintings in the bed of his vehicle.
The event is presented by the Indianapolis-Franklin Township Lions Club. Past President Randy Faunce said this event has been organized by a few different local entities since its inception in 1983.
“This town, Wanamaker, used to be known as New Bethel until they got their first Post Office and found out there was already a New Bethel, Indiana, so they took the name of the then-National Postmaster General, Wanamaker,” Faunce said. “The town celebrated its sesquicentennial” — that’s 150 years — “in 1983, held a festival, then decided to continue it. First it was the Franklin Township Civic League, who hosted that sesqui, then continued it for 12-14 years on a Saturday.
(Hannah Gunnell/South Indy Connect photo) Live music was provided in front of the Franklin Township Civic League building, where the Lions Club holds its meetings. Black Orchid played for a while around noon during the festival.
“Business owners in town said, ‘You’re killing us on one of our busiest days, shutting down the street like this,’ so the business owners as part of the Wanamaker Businessman’s Association, now the Chamber of Commerce, took it over for several years,” Faunce continued. “The people on the committee doing that aged out, and nobody else stepped up, so the Lions Club has been running it for the last couple decades.”
The festival includes a variety of vendors, live music and a car show. Vendor space sold out this year, which meant Lions Club members actually had to place some of them in an alley because that was the only place they could set up.
(Hannah Gunnell/South Indy Connect photo) Harlow, 4, and her grandmother enjoy a cotton candy. The Lions Club sold out of vendor booths for the event, many of which featured food, homemade items, and local businesses.
This year, the car show had about 200 cars registered, which is not the most the Lions Club has seen, but is on the higher side in terms of numbers, Faunce said.
(Hannah Gunnell/South Indy Connect photo) Southeastern Avenue between McGaughey Road and Northeastern Avenue shut down for the event every year. This portion of the road marks the main stretch through Wanamaker.
“My favorite thing about it is I run into people I haven’t seen since the festival before!” he said.
The Indianapolis-Franklin Township Lions Club began in the Fall of 1971. They operate out of the Franklin Township Civic League’s building, 8822 Southeastern Ave. More information can be found at https://indyftlions.weebly.com/.
