Discover Tinley 2000 marked the end of one era and the start of a new one. The recent community expo of nearly 100 businesses, governments and service organizations, which drew crowds to Grissom Junior High School, will be even bigger and better next year, organizers promise.
“This year we actually had to turn some organizations away,” said Rita Brudd, chairman of the Tinley Park Human Resources Commission, which co-sponsors the event with the Tinley Park Chamber of Commerce. “But next year we’re going to be at the village’s new convention center and we’re planning some wonderful things.”
One plan is to hold “A Taste of Tinley,” with Brudd hoping to interest as many of the village’s eateries as possible in offering samples of their specialties at the same time as Discover Tinley.
“Right now, we don’t allow food to be passed out in the gym because of restrictions placed by the school,” Brudd said. “But at the convention center (now under construction), we will have both the facilities and the availability to do `A Taste of Tinley’ in conjunction with Discover Tinley. It will mean people can stop in and not only visit all the booths, but have a great lunch or early dinner.”
Discover Tinley was first offered in 1977 at the Brementowne Mall shopping center and has been held most years since, switching to the school site after the mall was reconfigured.
“The whole idea is that even if you’ve lived in Tinley for 20 some years as I have, there are constantly new things in town, new businesses and also new residents,” said Brudd, a member of the Human Resources Commission since 1973. “So once a year it gives people the opportunity to check out a whole lot of the new stuff all at once at the same spot.”
The new Tinley Park Holiday Inn, which will manage the adjacent convention center, made its first Discover Tinley appearance.
“We’re discovering this is a wonderful show,” said Margaret Collina, director of sales and marketing for the Holiday Inn. “We’ve been getting a lot of positive response from the people walking through and inquiring about our convention space. They’re also inquiring about jobs at the hotel, and we tell them we’ll be starting to advertise for applications in July or August.”
Not every exhibitor was new to Tinley Park. American Legion Post 615, organized in Tinley Park in 1962, had a display for the first time.
“We’re here to let people know the American Legion is in Tinley Park and to get new members,” said Jim Johnson, the post’s senior vice commander. The group has about 375 members but can always use more qualified veterans, he said.
For state Rep. Kevin McCarthy (D-Orland Park), the event is a must each year.
“It’s surprising how up-to-date people are on current legislation,” McCarthy said. “They want to put their view in, and I’m hear to listen. It tells me people do pay attention to what goes on down in Springfield. I’ve always said I have a real active district, and some of the questions I get here prove that.”
Orland Township Clerk Patricia Thompson said the township’s booth drew a lot of questions from senior citizens about available services. “A lot of seniors want to know about how to take advantage of the senior transportation service and what health care services we offer,” she said.
At the Tinley Park Police Department’s booth, Officer Patrick Avendt was fingerprinting children and giving their parents the completed cards.
“We’re also taking pictures of them in case that’s ever needed,” Avendt said.
All the items go into a child information envelope distributed by the Police Department, ready for parents to use to search for a lost child.
“We suggest to parents that they add whatever information they think might be helpful–a list of favorite friends or places to play, that sort or thing–also that every couple of years they get a new set of fingerprints and a new picture,” Avendt said, adding that “if you never need them–that’s the best thing in the world.”
Other village agencies focused on different events.
Members of the village’s Millennium Commission were busy selling keepsakes, including a 48-by-68-inch woven cotton throw. “They come in burgundy, navy blue or forest green,” said Becky Nichols, a commission member and owner of Evon’s Trophies. “They show existing and former buildings in Tinley Park and sell for $35 each at the Village Hall.”
For Jim Fuentes, president of the Oak Park Avenue Mainstreet Association, an organization of businesses from Tinley Park’s historic main street, Discover Tinley provides feedback that lets him know the organization’s promotional efforts are on target.
“They tell me they love what we are doing and want us to keep doing it,” Fuentes said. “And in turn, we want the community to know that we want to keep getting discovered by them.”
Village Trustee Matt Heffernan spent hours circulating among the displays.
“Every year it has gotten bigger and better,” Heffernan said. “More businesses are passing the word that this is a good event to come to because you get customers coming in here.”
Diane Hebel, executive director of the Tinley Park Chamber of Commerce, agreed.
“It’s really something because a lot of the other area chambers are experiencing a real decline in attendance at their community awareness expos with both their participants and their walk-throughs–but we have had just the opposite experience,” Hebel said.
And the residents themselves seemed pleased as they left with bags stuffed with literature, pens, pencils, seeds, magnets and small samples of various products.
“I come by to learn a little more about the village and the surrounding community services that are available to me and to other people,” said Jim Baum, a Tinley Park resident who has been to most of the Discover Tinley expos. “And I come by also just to have a general awareness of what’s going on within the Village of Tinley Park, where I live, where I raised my family and where I intend to stay.”
Despite all that’s new, Baum feels that at its heart, the Tinley Park he moved to nearly 40 years ago still exists.
“In a real important sense, I don’t think the town itself has changed that much,” Baum said. “It’s true that Tinley Park is larger and has more people, but the friendly feeling is still here. I think the small town that we had when I moved into Tinley Park is pretty much still here today.”
