By Victoria Walker
Staff Writer
Last Saturday, December 1st, weeks of work, club meetings, sewing, baking and planning finally come together into Westford Academy’s forty-third annual Holiday Bazaar. Featuring over two hundred craft and food vendors, the bazaar included tables selling products from local businesses, artists and school clubs. There was also entertainment by student performers from the school music department.
The bazaar had something for every age group, making it equally appealing to middle schoolers and senior citizens, and people drove from as far as Cambridge to enjoy the event.
“We’ve been talking about what to sell for two months, deciding on items and what people want to buy… I really like all of the places with Christmas decor,” said WA senior Alexa Overington, who was working at the WA Theater Arts table.
Vonne Cook, a science teacher at Stony Brook, had a similarly positive experience, despite the work it took to set up her volunteer table which sold beaded bracelets to raise money for students in Uganda.
“I like to look at the jewelry. It is really cool having kids walking around selling food and raffle tickets,” Cook said.
While Cook has been coming to the bazaar for five years, some of the other workers came for the first time, including John Tyler, a Spanish teacher from Groton. He heard about the bazaar through a friend.
“It’s good, very big. Biggest one I’ve been to so far,” said Tyler.
There were also tables being run by people who work selling crafts full time, such as Kay Magrone, who ran a table for Shaker Kitchen.
“We’ve probably been coming here for about fifteen years. We have a lot of repeat customers,” Magrone said.
Despite the turnout of vendors and the variety of their products, there seemed to be a general consensus among the workers that the bazaar was less crowded than it has been in other years.
“It doesn’t seem too crowded this year,” said Lauren Evans, a librarian at the J.V. Fletcher Library, who was selling handmade pet toys for her third year. “Maybe it’s just spread out more.”
The lack of crowds was not necessarily a bad thing, however, as it allowed people to move more easily between stalls and spend more time browsing the wide variety of available products. There was hardly a person present who was not eating something from the language club tables, carrying a bag full of holiday crafts or paying to arrest a friend at the International Club table.
“I do really love the language clubs and the food they put out. People are really creative!” said WA junior Risha Sanikommu, who was working at the Amnesty International table.
Boomi Soni, a twelve year old student from Stony Brook who was enjoying the bazaar with friends, liked how everyone at the different tables arranged their business items. No one who went to the bazaar could say that the array of colorful foods, crafts and posters was not eye catching, and with everything to look at, there was hardly a dull moment.
“I love how all of the people come together,” Soni said.
