Church Crafts Fairs and Bazaars

This morning while on my way to the post office I saw a banner announcing a church fall festival and crafts fair. For me, that means that Autumn is officially here, and it also marks the beginning of the holiday season!

The church crafts fairs and bazaars (as they were called when I was a child) are some of my favorite things, and I love pulling out my calendar and adding all these events to it. My daughter and I love visiting these holiday craft fairs, wandering around the small cozy "booths" set up by the ladies of the church, and looking at all their homemade crafts. So many of the crafts festivals nowadays are almost "professional" ~ and have beautiful crafts made by people who do their particular craft "as a living". But at the church festivals ~ or bazaars ~ you can still find simple old-fashioned items that were made with special care and love, as the older ladies of the church got together each week to craft. They may not be as fancy as some of the other crafts items created by more experienced crafters, but they're so much fun to look at ~ and to buy.

They bring back wonderful memories for me of the Christmas bazaars at the church I attended as a child. My mother, both grandmothers, and my great-grandmother all had items they made for the event, and it was fun to spend the day there "helping".

A more recent memory is one that our daughter and I share... of a Christmas bazaar at a beautiful old church in Prescott, Arizona, where we lived for several years. Prescott is in the mountains ~ about 5500 feet in altitude ~ and it's filled with pine trees, beautiful Victorian homes, and they get snow! (I say that because we don't get it here in south central Texas, and I miss it!!) Prescott was always a lot of fun around the holidays because it's known as Arizona's Christmas City, and they have wonderful parades and celebrations.

Back to the church I mentioned... This particular church is a big old stone building on a corner hill, as you enter town. Each fall we'd keep watch for the banner to go up at the front staircase, giving the dates for their crafts bazaar. There were rooms filled with crafts ~ some Victorian, some homespun and country, and all made by the ladies of the church... a room filled with books for sale... another room filled with toys... a back room that had so many racks of clothing you could barely fit through... and the downstairs area was filled with food ~ homemade mixes to buy (they were famous for their bean soup mix, and always had a pot being kept hot for free samples), delicious brownies, cookies, candy and muffins all packaged in pretty paper and ribbons, lots of hot cocoa, or hot apple cider. What a pleasant way to spend a brisk, fall, afternoon!

If you haven't been to a traditional church crafts fair or bazaar in a long time, why not add one to your calendar this year, and have some old-fashioned fun!