Mount Royal Academy hosted its 4th annual Holiday Shopping Event in early November. While the event had been run in previous years, this was the first time it was held in the new gymnasium in the St. Joseph Center. More than 30 vendors sold items ranging from lighted pine cone baskets to American Girl doll clothes, wooden items to jewelry, wooden folk art to locally made maple products. Particularly popular were the hand knit and hand crocheted hats and many kids could be seen walking around sporting their new hear wear.
Vendors were very pleased with the event and many have already reserved their spaces for next year (Nov 2 & 3, 2012). The cafe sold baked items and beverages, and the raffle table sold tickets for the 30 donated prizes, one from each vendor. These two areas of the event raised over $300, while the space rental comprised a larger and more substantial portion of the proceeds.
One of the main goals of the event was to bring members of the community onto the Mount Royal Campus to see the facility and to interact with the Mount Royal community. This was extremely successful, with middle school and high school students helping vendors carry loads to the gymnasium from vehicles, families running the café and raffle, and a general feeling of helpfulness and welcome.
We are already looking forward to next year with an increase in the number of vendors, a wider variety of handcrafts, and a welcome to more shoppers. The gymnasium proved to be a wonderful venue for the event, and the weekend of activity gave Greg Heath, building coordinator, an opportunity to successfully try out various systems, including the PA. system.
Anyone interested in reserving a space for next year’s event may contact Ann Stout at stout@nhvt.net.
