MANLY DAILY WED 31.8.2011

LISA Novak loved her late dad and wanted to pay tribute to him in a creative way.

What she didn’t realise was that many others felt the same way about their fathers and couldn’t wait to tell the world.

Twelve windows in Dee Why have been set up as a special Father’s Day wall with paper stuck up behind the glass and fluoro markers bolted to the shopfront. Passers-by are encouraged to pen their own message of love and appreciation in time for Father’s Day.

Three of the windows were filled with scrawled messages of love within two hours of the paper and markers being made available.

“One lady walking past dropped her groceries and wrote her message, then stepped back and photographed it, saying she would create a Father’s Day card from the shot,” Ms Novak said.

Others have kissed the windows, leaving big lipstick marks on the glass and many have written in different languages.

“We have Greek, Italian and Serbian messages and others in languages I don’t even recognise,” Ms Novak said.

Lisa lost her father, Peter Bielik, last year and wanted to do something special this year to give others an opportunity to praise the special man in their lives.

“Dad was such an amazing family man and mentor, everyone he came into contact with was affected and he had the strongest work and family ethics,” she said.

Father’s Day and birthdays would be family days where the food lasted all day and everyone came together for hours.

“We are a big close family but it’s because of him that we are all so close,” she said. With two daughters of her own, Jayde, 5, and Shanii, 13, Ms Novak and her husband Mark are keen to keep up their family tradition on Sunday.

“I’ll go to the cemetery to pay tribute to my dad then the rest of us will stay together for the day and enjoy food,” Ms Novak said.

* The windows are on the shopfront of The Novak Agency, 651 Pittwater Rd, Dee Why if you want to add your message of love.