Bazaars mean Christmas is just around the corner
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, October 30, 2003
It’s a happy place. A warm place. A place of opportunities. At a bazaar, those who make sell to those who don’t.
Bazaar season signals the beginning of winter, the start of holiday time, the precursor to Christmas. You can shop at the mall or order gifts through the Internet, but you’ll have better luck finding a one-of-a-kind, down-home, handmade gift at a bazaar.
When you stroll the aisles, it’s cheerful to think that each candle, snowman or sachet was created through imagination and talent. At Lake Ki’s Hidden Treasures near Lakewood last week, a three-car garage was transformed into a combination of Santa’s workshop and Martha Stewart’s kitchen.
About two dozen vendors showed their wares in a cornucopia of color and creativity. There were aprons, cookie cutters, jams, wooden chairs, wreaths, ornaments, dolls, apricot syrup, jewelry, lavender soap and Seahawk mufflers. My eye was on Friendship Soups, wrapped in seasonal fabric, holding the fixings for pea soup. Packets would make excellent gifts for co-workers or piano teachers.
Shopper Kimberly Cole of Arlington said she is really not a bazaar person, but she found Lake Ki’s Hidden Treasures nine years ago.
"It’s better than any big ones," Cole said. "My husband likes the strawberry and rhubarb jam I get him every year."
Homeowner Trudy Egelstad, 41, works year-round on wares she sells at her annual bazaar. This year, she featured primitive stitcheries on fabric that looked like the old days. Her husband, Rob, built display pieces and hung lights. Her five children, all home-schooled, pitched in as cashiers and wrappers. Her "display queens" Becky Burchill and Debby Kunda from Snohomish helped her pull it all together.
Vendors can display their own wares or let the Egelstad gang arrange the merchandise. Each vendor pays an entry free and commission on their sales. Egelstad said crafters might hope to make anywhere from $100 to several thousand dollars at each show.
"You can’t make a living crafting," Egelstad said. "Most do it to make extra money and because it’s fun."
While her children read their lessons at home, Egelstad listens and sews.
"That is why I like to do stitcheries," Egelstad said. "Last summer when it was 90 degrees, I was making Santa Clauses."
She keeps an eye out for what might be popular bazaar items each new season. One year, she sold about 20 holiday snow globes, but globes didn’t move the next year.
Some crafters sell their goods on a circuit. Egelstad will sell her wares 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Nov. 7 and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Nov. 8 at Visions of Sugar Plums, 4505 238th St. NE, Arlington.
Paul Johnson of Warm Beach, who shopped at Lake Ki, said he was looking forward to the Sugar Plum event where his woodworking will be for sale, including a heart pin with an American flag.
Another shopper, Cheryl Combest of Camano Island, said she likes to go to bazaars on Thursdays and Fridays to avoid weekend crowds. It will be handy for Combest to visit the Camano Holiday Bazaar 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at the Camano Senior and Community Center, 606 Arrowhead Road, Camano Island.
In Snohomish, the Americana Holiday Bazaar is planned 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday at Snohomish United Methodist Church, 6202 99th Ave. SE, Snohomish.
Every Sunday, The Herald publishes the following week’s bazaars in the Community Calendar.
Bargains abound from sale to sale. Donna Burns of Marysville found little sets of clothespins decorated like Santa Claus, with teensy cotton ball hats, to string over her breakfast bar.
Though I’m not a Christmas decorator around my house, I appreciated the talent displayed from shelf to shelf. Vanilla candles smelled heavenly. Wreaths were circles of love. Egelstad’s Santas were each a tad different.
To find one-of-a-kind treasures, try a bazaar.
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or
