Tis the Season

Starting in late October and early November - it becomes the season for craft fairs and bazaars.

The events are typically put on by schools and churches with lots of holiday and Christmas fare on sale; baked goods to sample, and good lunches cooked with love back in the kitchen.

Home-based crafters and wood workers rent space and put their items on display for shoppers looking for a unique item for their home or for a special someone during the holdiays.

Back at Lutheran High - the Craft Fair used to arrive in early October when I started there.  It went hiatus for a few years, and returned this year the first weekend of November.  It was as popular with shoppers as it was with vendors.  I remember taking calls from vendors looking for booth space, four years after the last event.  I hope those guys were first in line for the revival event this year.

This is peak season for the craft fair and bake sales.  It seems like communities coordinate their sales so visitors can hit several fairs in the same town.  I don't mind the nominal admission fee - that and the vendor rental is usually how the hosts make money for their cause.

The best fairs are the ones the include something special for the kids.  I remember with excitement the "fish pond."  For a quarter, or maybe a dime, I could stand on one side of a screen with a pole in hand... a magnet or hook dangling over toward a pool of goodies.  A mystery bag would be caught and I could keep the prize!

Other fairs have children only sections, where kids can shop on their own to find something for mom and dad that is sold at a nominal cost.  I suppose this isn't the deal it would have been for me as a kid... but I bet the thrill of getting mommy and daddy something on your own - and the parent's joy in receiving it - will make that small section an unforgettable part of any Christmas bazaar.