Art fair, bazaar draws large crowd

Tables and booths filled the church.

One table supported more than 70 pounds of Christmas cookies while another displayed handmade hats.

Located at the Unitarian Universalist Church at 2120 N. Fee Lane, the annual Art Fair and Bazaar was open for the community Friday and Saturday. This was the 54th year of the bazaar.

Friday was busier and the turnout was successful, said Julie Lawson, fair coordinator and a church member.

The event consisted of a book sale, rummage sale, white elephant gift exchange and bake sale. The art fair drew several booths presenting the local artists’ work.

“Everything sold from the rummage, bake and book sale are donated,” Lawson said. “We keep all the proceeds. For the art fair, we only get the booth fee for the vendors to display their work.”

UU congregation members donated all items sold in the fair.

“Anyone can come and hang out at the bazaar, but the congregation volunteers work the two days,” said Harv Hegarty, a retired Kelley School of Business professor.

Hegarty volunteered at the baked goods table with Bloomington High School North senior Nell Krahnke.

“Over the two days of the fair, there were probably more than 1,000 cookies sold, and there are still boxes full,” Krahnke said.

Art booths presented specialties such as jewelry, clothing, wooden articles, ceramics and paintings.

Karen Pritchett said she and her husband usually sell pottery but were unable to acquire a booth for that work this year.

“I have been selling my pottery for about six years,” she said. “The jury picks what gets in the show, and they picked my recycled clothes instead.”

Annual bazaar shoppers Mary Heidt and Linda Campbell have attended the fair for 16 years.

“There are nice vendors that are here every year but change what they do,” Heidt said.
In the back room of the church, volunteer Dianne Lock managed the white elephant sale.

“The sale went marvelous,” Lock said. “We have taken down tables again and again. Stuff was piled wall-to-wall yesterday, and now it is down to almost nothing.”

Most of the items donated to the white elephant sale came from church members now living in nursing homes or who are unable to take care of their houses.

“We get a lot of international things from when members go overseas,” Lock said. “Everything we get has a story.”