Holiday bazaars a staple for schools and shoppers alike

PALMER — While big Black Friday deals get some shoppers up before the sun the day after Thanksgiving, that Saturday calls for vendors and students just as early at Colony High School.

This year marked the 21^st annual Colony Christmas Bazaar, where a few thousand people flocked to the school to peruse a vast array of items made and sold by local residents. Wares range from airbrushed old saw blades to felted sculptures, hand-carved soaps to hand-carved bowls and Christmas tree ornaments to parachute cord bracelets — just about anything for anyone looking for a unique, Alaskan gift.

For those gifts to come before shoppers, however, a lot goes on behind the scenes.

A closer look

Since the beginning, Colony’s Christmas Bazaar has been a fundraiser for students in the Close Up program, a national effort to get young adults involved in their government on a level that some people never see or understand.

The program connects students with U.S. senators and representatives in Washington, D.C. and facilitates monument visits every spring, but the individuals have to pay their own way.

That’s where the bazaar comes in. The vendors buy booth space in the school, and the money gets divided up among the Close Up student helpers, with a smaller cut for other school groups like Science Olympiad, Junior ROTC and the Nordic ski team, who helped with parking this year. The vendors do not pay a percentage of their profit to the school, nor is there an admission fee to the event, as is the case at several bazaars and craft fairs in the state.

Still, a student who works the bazaar — be it serving coffee, setting up tables, unloading merchandise from vendor vehicles or manning the information desk — for more than one year will have a significant part of their Close Up plane ticket paid for.

“If you work three days (in) four years, you can’t get your whole trip paid for but you can come awful close,” said Colony Close Up advisor Tom Berg.

That may not sound like much, but seniors Molly Wojtacha and Sydney Scoles said before the bazaar started Saturday morning that day-of duties were the hardest part.

“We’ve been here since 6 a.m.,” Wojtacha said.

Wojtacha and Scoles volunteered to take on the roles of student leaders at the beginning of the school year, checking in with vendors who had reapplied the day after last year’s bazaar. In the week leading up to the event, the two girls and about 25 of their classmates spent four hours on Wednesday and Black Friday marking off spots and doing general organization, followed by four hours the next morning of helping vendors to their purchased spots.

“It’s a monumental effort for myself and especially the students working closely with me,” Berg said.

It doesn’t go unappreciated.

Shopping for a cause

Vendor Vicky Palmer, a Wasilla resident who has lived in Alaska for 60 years, said she’s done business at Colony’s bazaar since it began under Mary Sue Backus’ direction in 1995. Palmer’s colorful, no-shrink, sturdy aprons have made their way as far as Michelle Obama (who Palmer says has three of her products, courtesy of Anchorage assemblywoman Elvi Gray-Jackson), but she still cares about who her money is going to.

“I like to do fundraisers at churches and schools because there’s a purpose when you pay your space rent,” Palmer said.

Louise Logan of Dot’s Creations — a small business named for Logan’s mother — is another longtime supporter of the bazaar who expressed interest in supporting students.

“I like it because the kids benefit from it,” she said. “It’s very important to us that it (the money) comes back to the kids.”

The customers appreciate that sentiment, too, though many of them are thinking in terms finding gifts for their own children. Palmer resident Harold Larson said he and his wife Linda, who have lived in the Valley for 15 years, make Colony High their first stop shop for their seven grandchildren and soon to be nine great-grandchildren.

Plus, they always see someone they know.

“It’s a good place to meet friends we haven’t seen for a while,” Harold Larson said.

Other bazaars

Though Colony’s may be the biggest one-day school Christmas bazaar in the Valley, a couple elementary schools also take advantage of the season to raise money.

Butte Elementary PTA president Gerrie Deal said money raised at their Homespun Holiday Bazaar (open Dec. 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) goes primarily to their Bricks for Kids afterschool program. It’s also a chance for local talent to entertain, as students and church groups perform songs and skits throughout the event.

The fundraiser is especially important to Butte, Deal said, because it’s a Title I school —meaning it has a high percentage of students from low-income families who many not be able to pay for their child to go on cultural and educational field trips.

“There’s a lot of poverty in the area, and … the more money you make, the more you can give to the kids,” Deal said.

Pioneer Peak Elementary also has a holiday craft show-fundraiser combo coming up, organized by PTA treasurer Tandi Remaklus.

Remaklus said they raised a little over $1,000 last year (the inaugural year), and hope to raise more than that this year (Dec. 5, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) for a new set of gymnasium speakers. The show is also an opportunity for the school’s student council — and National Junior Honor Society members from Colony Middle — to get a little leadership experience, as they help organize the event and some set up their own shops, she said.

OTHER MAT-SU BAZAARS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON:

If you missed the Colony High School Christmas Bazaar, try one (or a few) of these upcoming craft fairs:

Saturday, Dec. 5

Homespun Holiday Bazaar, Butte Elementary: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Holiday Craft Show, Pioneer Peak Elementary: 10 a.m. to 5p.m.

Big Lake Lions Club Christmas Bazaar, East Lake Mall: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Christmas bazaar and bake sale, Trinity Lutheran Church: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 6

Big Lake Lions Club Christmas Bazaar, East Lake Mall: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 11 (Colony Christmas)

Arts and Crafts Fair, Palmer Depot: noon to 6 p.m.

Craft Fair, United Protestant Presbyterian Church: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 12 (Colony Christmas)

Craft Bazaar, Mat-Su Senior Services: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Craft Fair, United Protestant Presbyterian Church: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Arts and Crafts Fair, Palmer Depot: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Craft Fair, Mat-Su Borough Gym (Palmer): 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.