Holiday bazaar benefits Alberton Food Pantry

ALBERTON – With Thanksgiving over, the Alberton Food Pantry started off the holiday season with the town’s annual craft fair bazaar.

The lunchroom of the Alberton Public School was packed with tables, which overflowed into the hallway. Each table was covered with items for sale and draped with festive tablecloths in greens, reds and whites.

The selections varied from holiday decorations to jewelry to crafts. According to Resa Brisco, the former organizer of the event, vendors were encouraged to sell homemade or locally produced items.

Vendors from all over the county were drawn to the event with people from Superior and St. Regis coming to Alberton to sell things. According to Brisco, most of the vendors were the same every year. She said only a few vendors were new, while the majority had been coming back for years. The vendors were not the only attractions at the bazaar.

A snack bar in the school’s kitchen was also set up for the event. The food pantry provided soups, homemade bread, cookies, coffee and tea. To compliment the loyalty of the vendors, the customers come back for more every year.

People came from far and near to shop. According to Brisco, people from Frenchtown and Missoula often come by as part of a loop of different bazaars and craft fairs around the area. Muriel Mead, a board member for the Alberton Food Pantry and the event’s current organizer, said people look forward to the event every year. Brisco said it is more about the social aspect to get together with friends than the money.

“People look forward to it all year long,” Brisco said. “It’s more a camaraderie. It’s not like you make a lot of money here, it’s more of the friendship and fellowship where you get to see people once a year in this lunchroom.”

The Alberton Food Pantry took over the event when Brisco became unable to run the event without help and stepped down. Brisco said she ran the bazaar for approximately 20 years.

“It was time to pass the torch to a good cause,” Brisco said.

The food pantry began to run it when Mead suggested taking the bazaar over at a meeting. This was the first year the food pantry ran the event. While no changes had been made to this year’s event, the possibility of future change exists.

“A few things will change,” said Mead. “Basically, I think it’ll stay pretty much the same. We want to make it bigger and better if we can.”

According to Mead, proceeds from the sales will go to the Alberton Food Pantry. When Brisco ran the event, money was donated to the food pantry and the school for whatever projects needed it. While the food pantry will get the money this year, other groups will still benefit from it. Mead said the food pantry supports a lot of other groups, including the school.

“Alberton really helps the food pantry and the food pantry actually does a lot for Alberton,” Mead said. “There’s always something.”

The event is always the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Despite the timing, Black Friday does not seem to be much competition. Rosella Sibert, a vendor at the fair, said she felt a lot of people came to craft fairs to get away from the Black Friday crowds. Sibert felt all the craft fairs and bazaars in the area would appeal to people who look for items not normally found in box stores.

The Alberton Holiday Bazaar drew a fairly large crowd. According to Mead, there was a good stream of people throughout the day and there were no concerns about traffic lasting until four, when the event ended.

Following the biggest shopping day of the year, when many people start to shop for Christmas, the bazaar was a good start to find a unique gift.