Kirk School Hosted Annual Arts and Crafts Show

Booths of artisans and crafters lined the hallways and filled the gymnasium of Samuel A. Kirk School this weekend as the school hosted its annual Spring Showcase of Arts and Crafts.

Now in its 39^th year, the Spring Showcase raises funds for Kirk School, 520 S. Plum Grove Rd., a public day school that serves students with significant disabilities. This year’s show, which began Saturday and continued Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., featured 85 exhibitors selling jewelry, fine arts, handmade soaps and many other craft items.

The first Spring Showcase was organized in 1972 by the Chicago Northwest Alumnae Club of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority. Club member Pat Smith remembers why the group decided to support Kirk School. “Our club was looking for a project that would involve all of us and would benefit a charity that didn’t already have a long list of groups supporting it,” she says.

Kirk School appealed to the group, Smith says, because it was new, having opened in 1971. Also, a member had twin daughters enrolled in the school.

Held every March, the Spring Showcase has become the group’s major annual event. “We spend about 360 days a year planning it,” Smith says, and she’s only kidding a little. Event chairperson Reta Holmgren says the Alpha Gammas have a meeting three weeks after every Spring Showcase to begin plans for the next year’s show. Preparations get busier in October when invitations to exhibitors go out.

The Spring Showcase is a juried show, which means only crafters who make and sell their own works can participate. A jury of 10 choose the exhibitors, making sure the show doesn’t have too many selling the same types of items.

The Alpha Gammas present the show in coordination with another group, the Parents and Teachers of Handicapped Students, as well as Kirk faculty and parents. “The faculty and staff here have been the backbone of this show,” Holmgren says.

Kirk School Principal Kim Dungan says that money raised from the Spring Showcase over the years has been used to purchase vans, communication devices, positioning equipment. Beyond the extra funding, the Spring Showcase builds a spirit of involvement within the school, Dungan says. “The best thing is to watch the parents, the community, the AGDs and even the students work together for the good of the school.”

Kirk School is part of the Northwest Suburban Special Education Organization and educates students from ages 5 to 21. The school averages between 170 and 180 students at a time, and has a faculty of 155.

Dungan notes that the school follows the state curriculum for public schools. “We believe every student can learn,” she says. “It’s the curriculum that needs to be adapted to meet that student’s needs.”

“Kirk is recognized in the whole community as one of the best,” Holmgren says.

In addition to crafters, the Spring Showcase also has a bake sale and raffle. Food is available in the cafeteria.

Admission to the show is $3. Additional parking can be found at Pleasant Hills School, 434 W. Illinois Ave., with shuttle bus services donated by RichLee Vans Inc. For information, call (847) 463-8500.