As plans move forward to make Roosevelt Road a little more environmentally friendly, the coordinator of an upcoming street fair on the thoroughfare is following suit with a green theme for the festival.

The Roosevelt Road Summer Spectacular Street Fair is set for 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, between East and Oak Park avenues.

Coordinator Paul Zimmerman, president of the Roosevelt Road Business Association and vice president of the Berwyn Development Corp. board, said he organized the event with an Earth-friendliness theme because he would like to see more sustainable development on the thoroughfare.

“This whole streetscape plan that’s going is literally a greening of Roosevelt Road in terms of getting landscaping and trees, which Roosevelt Road has precious little of. I’m hoping that there will be elements that are green in construction,” he said.

He said a project on Marion Street in Oak Park, where storm-water runoff on the street could be filtered and reused to water landscaping there, would be good for Roosevelt Road. The project was led by Duncan Associates in Chicago, the same urban planning consulting firm that representatives from Berwyn, Cicero and Oak Park are working with to revitalize Roosevelt.

Consultants met with representatives at a community workshop last month to discuss ideas of urban roadway redesign and  redevelopment on the thoroughfare. Concepts involved adding landscaped medians and bump-outs, areas of the sidewalk that protrude into the street, to make space for trees. Consultants will showcase their proposals at the street fair.

Vendors are based in the Chicago area and include Recycle Me, which sells 100 percent organic cotton T-shirts; My Solar Bike, which aims to cut emissions and sells electric bikes; and Green Home Experts, which offers environmentally friendly building products for the home.

Chicago Gateway Green, a nonprofit organization advocating for the beautification of the Chicago area, will be present as well as someone from the Working Bikes Cooperative, a Chicago-based nonprofit that accepts bikes as donations and ships them to needy people across the world. Also, two Smart cars will be exhibited, and a Segway enthusiast plans to show off his preferred mode of transportation.

Zimmerman said residents he’s spoken with are amazed that the fair organizers were able to shut down Roosevelt Road.

“Having a sidewalk sale wouldn’t be the same. People like walking on the street ... there’s something really cool about that and not have to worry about cars and traffic,” he said.

The music stage is near FitzGerald’s, which  will offer outdoor service of featured beers and dedicate its front yard to seating.

On the family stage will be the Oak Park-River Forest High School gospel choir; a music ensemble from Morton West; Circus Boy, a Chicago-based juggler, who rides a unicycle and plays with the audience; and a hip-hop dance group led by an Oak Park youth. David Kovac, who calls himself the “New Vaudevillian” and does magic, will emcee the event.

The stage also will feature snippets from  theater companies the 16th Street Theater of Berwyn and the Village Players of Oak Park.

Mitchell Furlett, who calls himself “The Johnny Appleseed of Water Conservation,” will show people how they can conserve water in their homes on a daily basis.

The North Berwyn Park District will set up games for kids and Wonder Works, the children’s museum in Oak park, will host activities.

Pat Fortunato, owner of Curves on Roosevelt Road in Berwyn and former alderman from the 8th Ward (which includes the thoroughfare), said she is happy to draw attention to part of the city that has seemed “neglected.”

“People (in Berwyn) often don’t go past Cermak Road, or on this north end of the city,” said Fortunato. “Now, they’ll see that we have a lot to offer, and Oak Park people can see what Berwyn has.”