Church Bazaar

I can now proudly say that I have successfully coordinated an entire church bazaar! After three months of planning and organization, Tigard Community Friends Church held it's 1st Annual Holiday Bazaar yesterday (Saturday). It was about as busy as to be expected for a first year bazaar in an interesting economic climate, but I know that things were sold and I got some positive feedback from some of the vendors.

The majority of the vendors were found on craigslist, but we did have some church people there with their own booths. We had a good mix of company reps (Avon, Pampered Chef, etc) and handcrafted items.

We did quite a bit of advertising, although we have a few more ideas for next year. We had some great rushes of people from time to time and most of the traffic was from people outside of our church family, which is fantastic!
I was speaking with one of the pastors and we discussed how there was a great feeling of community throughout the day. The vendors didn't know each other when the day started, but they all quickly introduced themselves to one another and people chatted continuously. Everyone was social and any customers who came through were happily greeted by smiling faces.

The hardest part of the whole thing was the physical labor required the night before and the day of. John and I spent most of Friday evening moving tables and chairs and marking off booth spaces. We didn't get home with the kids until midnight! Poor kiddos did a great job, but Nathan didn't sleep well that night. I couldn't my brain to quit working, so I didn't fall asleep until 1:30am. I then had to get up at 6am to get to the church before everyone else and get some extra work done that I hadn't had a chance to do the night before. Needless to say, I was running off of barely any steam all day Saturday, but the excitement and momentum of all the vendors kept me going (plus, I was treated to plenty of caffeine from my church family).

I do have to mention that Laura and Kevin had a booth and it was quite popular! Laura made these ADORABLE little Christmas ornaments (snowmen and penguins) and Kevin sold cards featuring his photography. Laura even got special orders for made-to-order snowmen! I'll have to take some pictures of the ones I bought and share them with you.

At the end of the day, we moved everything back to normal once everyone was gone and we left with many new ideas for next year. While it wasn't constantly busy, I felt like it was a success in bringing about community and fellowship and I'm excited to have finally found my place in the church. I knew I was meant to do something for the church for many years, but it wasn't until late September that this idea occurred to me.

It was completely exhausting, both mentally and physically and John was very understanding that I was too tired to think clearly by the time we got home yesterday. He made a celebration steak dinner while I collapsed on the couch for a while. I slept hard last night and woke up with everything hurting this morning, but it was worth it. Maybe next year I can get some more sleep the night before. Not to mention that I was strongly scolded by one of our ladies from Kenya for not asking for more help. Another note to make for next year, I suppose. :^)