Christmas in the Village Craft Fair

Craig Bakay | Nov 20, 2019

The Harrowsmith Free Methodist Church has been hosting its Christmas in the Village Craft Fair for five years now and what was different last Saturday was the parking lot — as in there were no open spots.

The church has generally lots of parking on all four sides but around 11:30 this year, there was nary a spot to be had.

“I’m sure we’ve maxed out this year,” said B. J. Calver, head organizer. “We have 48 vendors this year whereas we normally have 42 and we had to move the kids corner out into the hall.

“We started sending out invitations to vendors in May and we still have a waiting list for next year.

“We’ve been toying with expanding into the main hall upstairs.”

They started the Craft Fair in the fall but it didn’t get the traffic they were hoping for, which they now get with the Christmas tie-in. They moved it to the third Saturday in November so as not to conflict with Remembrance Day.

Calver said the main function of the Fair is to replenish their Community Assistance Program, which had been drained what with the need of late.

“We partner with South Frontenac Community Services,” Calver said. “The CAP is under our mission.

“If a need comes up in our community, we give support in various ways and we do Christmas hampers.

“We also do a community fun day in May with a free barbecue and kids activities and we get donations at that.”

But there’s another reason they hold the Craft Fair.

“When we built the gym, one of our goals was to allow community people the opportunity to sell their goods at reasonable prices,” she said.

Calver and her crew start setting up for the Saturday Fair on Thursday afternoon and “work right through.”

She said Vera McDonald looks after the Bake Shop, Heather Harper runs the Chilli Cafe and Lynda Clow is her “right arm.” Ingrid Smith helps with decorating, she said.

“And we get terrific support from Pastor Bob (Boutilier) and Pastor Carl (Bull) has been our faithful greeter for years.”