Harbour bazaar busy early

FITZROY HARBOUR – If you were a shopper as late as this coverage, in relative terms, of last week’s Bethel-St. Andrew’s United Church Women’s (UCW) Christmas Bazaar Saturday, Nov. 23 you definitely would have missed all the good stuff.

West Carleton Online arrived at the Fitzroy Harbour bazaar around 11:30 a.m. (after visiting Clem Smith’s farm clean up earlier in the morning), only a little more than an hour after the event started, and already the tables were looking a little bare.

Their frozen soups, pies and tortieres sold out, baked goods, preserves near gone, crafts leaving the tables too.

It’s a welcome sight for the UCW women who make and donate and provide everything that is for sale at the bazaar – a Baldwin Hall full of homemade goods.

“We were swamped right at the beginning,” UCW volunteer and event organizer Nancy Hayley told West Carleton Online. “And we did very well. We’re still doing well. There’s a bit of baking left, we’ve got some bread and buns left. Homemade baking is one of our biggest sellers as is our frozen soup. They’re all gone.”

As a novice soup maker, we’re not too sure what unit of measurement a batch is, but it sounds like the volunteers made lots to sell.

“I made two batches of pea soup,” Hayley said. “I believe there were more than two batches of hamburger soup and a batch of squash soup and a couple batches of chicken soup, so we did well with our soups.”

The UCW always comes together for this event.

“We had a lot of ladies come out today, so we’re really happy,” Hayley said. “We all enjoy doing it.  Apart from our Granny’s Attic section, we make everything. We knit, we sew, we bake, we cook. It really is an old fashioned church bazaar.”

And it takes some time to get ready.

“We start early at our meeting in October,” Hayley said. “We firm everything up at our meeting in November. Because these ladies have done it for so long, it takes us about an hour to get all set up, and then all the goods come in. We’re a busy group of ladies in December. When January comes, we’re ready for a break.”

The money raised goes back in to the church.

Next up for the UCW is a Festive Christmas Tea on Dec.11. there will be a carol sing along with accompaniment by musician Rick Leben. Along with tea there will be homemade squares and goodies.