Holiday Jingle/Bazaar
2024
We’re Baaaaaack!
It’s hard to believe our in person Holiday Jingle Bazaar is almost here! The elves are hard at work making sure that this event is a huge success.
Mark off Saturday November 02, 2024 from 9am-2pm in your calendar and let all your friends and family know that we’re ready to showcase all the goodies, and fun and beautiful artisan items that we are famous for! Although many vendors have the ability to do debit and visa payments, the Bake Table/Country Store/Knitting and Santa Shack will all be CASH ONLY.
How to Help:
Contribute items
The Country Store needs fudge, peanut brittle, candy items, jams and jellies and preserves. If you have items to drop off, please contact Candy Allen at candace.g.allen@gmail.com or Catherine Arcand-Pinette at catherine@stpaulsoakville.com. Catherine and/or Candy will be at the church on FRIDAY NOVEMBER 1st from 10am-12pm and in the evening from 7:00-8:30pm for item drop off so we can price all the items and get them out on the table.
The Bake Table needs baking! This can be anything from cookies to cupcakes to muffins to brownies. Please contact Bev Phillips at bev.phillipsgm@gmail.com if you need to have your items picked up. If you would like a tray for packaging items they will be available next Sunday. Bev and volunteers will be at the church on FRIDAY NOVEMBER 1st from 10:00-2:00 and 5:00 -8:00 to receive your items.
The Santa Shack needs cookies. Instead of having a tea room, this year we will have the “Santa Shack” operating out of the large kitchen selling soup, hot dogs, drinks and combos. For the combos, we will need chocolate chip cookies. These can be baked ahead and frozen. If you would like to donate some cookies, contact Candy Allen at the above email.
Silent Auction. It isn’t too late to donate a basket to the silent auction or donate items to be put in a basket. Items should be new and gift cards are welcome. All donations should be received by October 28th to allow time to catalogue. Contact Shirley-Anne Cooper for more information at sacs411@hotmail.com
Volunteer
We need lots of volunteers to help make the Holiday Jingle Bazaar run smoothly on November 5th. You can help as much or as little as you are able. Whether it is selling items at one of the tables, counting money or helping in the Santa Shack, every little bit helps! Please click on the link below and fill in the short form so we know how you would like to help. If you have a high school student in your house who would like volunteer hours, we are happy to sign their forms!
Thanks in advance for your willingness to support this event and help make it a huge success. Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.
Your Bazaar Team
Catherine, Candy, Bev and Shirley-Anne
The inside story of St. Paul’s Holiday Jingle
The St. Paul's bazaar is always a huge success and has been in existence since the beginning of the church organization. It is our largest fundraiser for our U.C.W. The money is used to support the work of St. Paul’s, the wider work of the United Church of Canada, as well as various local outreach projects.
As a result of our success it takes many hours of dedicated work by so many people, in and outside of the church. The buttons table has an excellent display and has been able to sell many buttons. The Silent Auction team does a fantastic job throughout the year of collecting, picking up, cleaning and storing all the treasures that are offered. The knitting crew are busy bees as is evident every year with all the lovely items on their table. Bakers are busy preparing all the goodies for the bake table and the Country store is full of delicious jams, jellies, preserves, candy sticks, fudge and the famous tourtieres. Our very popular jewellery table is a success upstairs in our the Friendship room. We usually have about 50 vendors at the bazaar each year. All are pleased and have a successful day. Several of the vendors save the date for next year to ensure they have a spot.
The team in Santa's Snack Shack and Santa's Cafe are very busy providing excellent service to the patrons. The kitchen crew are quick and efficient with preparing the food to be delivered. Addition of the soft piano music adds to the festive atmosphere.
Publicity is organized. The UCW ladies of the Miriam unit fan out all over Oakville to put up our posters in malls, grocery stores, seniors centers, libraries, hockey arenas, and any other venue that would accept them. There are ads put on Kijiji and on Facebook as well. A sign is rented and put up outside, along with Frosty, on the day of the event. Vendors are given flyers when they receive their confirmation letters. They are encouraged to put the flyers on their tables at shows prior to our Bazaar and hand them out to family and friends.
Friday is set-up day. A work crew arrives early to set up the tables for the vendors, silent auction, and in Santa's Cafe. Next, the table convenors and their crews arrive to cover their tables and set out their wares. By 1pm, the vendors begin to arrive to set up their tables, right up until 9pm. Work crews make sandwiches for the cafe. Our UCW treasurers organize money floats for each of the tables. Name tags are distributed to the various locations for all workers. The decorations are put up in the church and Tea Room, with the help of our youth group in the evening. By late Friday evening, our bazaar is ready for our shoppers.
Over 150 people work on the day of the bazaar. These workers include UCW women, women who are not members of UCW, men, youth, and others from the community who choose to come and help us. These individuals work on the tables, in the cafe, in the parking lot providing security and directions, and greeting people at the doors. Many others work behind the scenes, making sandwiches, setting up tables,organizing the children’s activities, decorating and counting the nickels, dimes, and loonies spent by our shoppers. Many of these workers have returned year after year to convene or work at these tables. As the day winds down, many are able to stay and help restore the church afterwards. Thank you to each and every one for all of your support! Your dedication, hard work, time, and your continuous involvement make our bazaar a success!