Cars, motorcycles, tattoos on tap at inaugural Whiskey Throttle Fair

Joe Fidanzato loves to flaunt his shiny, silver 1981 GMC Caballero Diablo any chance he can get.

Fidanzato, 75, of Monongahela polished the wheels after parking the car Saturday morning off a dusty road at the West­moreland Fairgrounds in Mt. Pleasant Township for the Whiskey Throttle Fair.

The fair featured antique cars as well as newer models, plus tattoo artists, music, a motorcycle stunt show and an array of vendors hawking everything from lemonade to wine, soap to decor.

While the festival’s namesake whiskey wasn’t prominent at the event, the motorcycles and cars stole the show.

For Fidanzato, it was an opportunity to showcase the car he’s “built from the ground up” over the last 20 years.

“All the work I put into it, I like to show it off,” he said, adding his son had brought the car parked next to him.

Keeping the Diablo pristine, he said, takes a lot of work. Even after Fidanzato said he was done cleaning it up, he leaned over and wiped his yellow rag around the engine again.

“You’re never, ever done,” he laughed.

As motorcyclists revved their bikes and rode through a thick cloud of white smoke during a performance, event organizer Mike Morelli looked on in near disbelief.

“I’m having trouble believing this is real right now,” he said.

Morelli said he’d been planning the event for months, adding new elements and connecting with friends and businesses who would help make the festival a reality.

The area, he said, didn’t have any event quite like this one — and he wanted to change that.

Morelli hopes the Whiskey Throttle Fair will become an annual event that expands year after year. His goal is to drum up customers for local businesses and bring the community together.

For Bill and Tracy Molnar of Fayette City, the festival was a great excuse to bring out the 1935 Ford truck they’ve worked on for decades.

When Bill Molnar was 14, his father bought the truck for $35 and towed it home. It didn’t run at the time, but Molnar, now 70, has painstakingly spent decades fixing it up.

His wife has helped with projects like installing the Flathead V8 motor.

“It doesn’t look like much, but I started with nothing,” Bill Molnar said.

The couple enjoys bringing the truck to events like Saturday’s festival — but they prefer to drive the old Ford when it’s not too hot.

“The AC is that window that opens in the front,” Bill Molnar said, adding he likes to keep the vehicle true to how it was when it was first made in the 1930s.

The festival catered to more than just car enthusiasts.

Mary Larcinese, who traveled to the area from Florida to visit friends, said her husband was eager for the cars, but she was more interested in spending time with the people who invited them to the event.

“We came for the company and all the good music,” said Larcinese, who lived in Jefferson Hills before moving to the Sunshine State.

Brooke Cramer, 42, of Latrobe adjusted a display of handmade soaps and lotions at a booth for her business, The Dusty Pig.

She’s been selling homemade products since 2017, when she was inspired by a social media post showing wooden decorations that depicted a scarecrow on one side and a snowman on the other. She decided to make some of her own, and when she posted them online, people suggested she start selling them.

With help from her husband, who builds the woodworking, she makes a variety of items to sell. Her booth Saturday showcased small wooden signs adorned with Bigfoot or pithy sayings.

“I love doing anything artsy,” she said.

Though she does most of her business through Etsy and Facebook, festivals are a good way to introduce the brand to new customers.

Friday, she said, was slow at the festival, but she was hoping for bigger crowds Saturday.

In one building, tattoo artists set up shop, tattooing clients and displaying designs.

Neil Harp, known as The Outdoor Artist, set up an elaborate stand with animal furs and framed artwork. He operates a mobile tattoo studio, traveling the country when he’s not at his Primal Arts Tattoo Studio near Harrisburg.

“I see it as an adventure,” he said of the traveling gig. “Everything’s an adventure. I love being challenged.”

On Saturday, he was inking “I used to fall. Now I get back up,” song lyrics from Blue October, to Liz Sorian’s arm.

Sorian, 34, of Murrysville said she’s been contemplating that specific tattoo for years. Her adopted brother was a tattoo artist, and she had talked to him about giving her that tattoo about eight years ago.

That was one of the last conversations they had. Sorian’s brother killed himself three weeks later.

On Saturday, she said, she got the tattoo in his honor. It would be a mix of purple, her favorite color, and blue, her brother’s favorite.

“I’m getting it for the both of us,” she said as Harp guided his tattoo gun over an outline drawn on her arm.