HYANNIS – If you are just beginning your holiday shopping or looking to buy some unique gifts for family and friends, then the Holly Berry Bazaar is the place to shop on Saturday, Nov. 10, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Nauset Regional Middle School in Orleans.
Proceeds from the fair, hosted by the Orleans Branch of the Cape Cod Hospital Auxiliary, will benefit Cape Cod Hospital’s Behavioral Health Services expansion campaign.
“This is our 26th biennial year of having the bazaar,” said Dianne Greaney, chairman of the Holly Berry Bazaar committee. “Traditionally, we raise between $40,000 and $60,000, with one-half raised by the lottery raffle sales and the other half with the sales of items on the day of the bazaar.”
The Holly Berry Bazaar raffle features cash prizes of $500 to four lucky winners. The sales began at Brewster in Bloom last May followed by various locations between Orleans and Yarmouth and will continue through the day of the fair.
The “Lotto Raffle” is an opportunity to invest in your future by purchasing tickets to win a four-foot tree covered in lottery scratch tickets. All of the scratch tickets are donated by auxiliary members, according to Greaney, and last year they had so many, they were able to have two lotto trees.
The fair will have the traditional Attic Treasures section, which is their big draw. So many families donate items that Greaney compares it to “a big 100-family yard sale.”
Other booths include everything sweet and sour with baked goods, candy, sweets, herbs and vinegars, jams and jellies.
Gift booths will highlight handmade knitted and sewn items, holiday gifts, wreaths, themed gift baskets, the famed Orleans Auxiliary animal hand puppets, jewelry and scarves and holiday arrangements.
New Offerings
This year’s fair will feature several new items, such as:
Dining-out gift card raffle: This is your chance to win a selection of gift cards to dine at several of your favorite area restaurants. The cards will be on display and you can choose from two different dining-out collections, placing your tickets in the one you prefer.
Handmade wooden hotel luggage racks made by Orleans and Chatham woodcrafters, which will sell for $75 each and have an estimated value of $100-$135 according to Greaney. The woodcrafters are donating all of their sales proceeds.
A sister of a volunteer spent her winter quilting colorful reversible pet quilts with various patterns that come in two sizes to place on a chair or couch for your pet to sleep. (They can also serve as changing mats for human babies.) They will sell for the bargain price of $5.
The knitting and sewing booth will feature quilted cats, each with their own precious facial expression that are made to sit in a chair or a couch, or lie stretched out on the bed.
Unique gifts include artistic hand-painted, Santa Claus faces on dried avocado shells. Each face is exceptionally detailed and will make wonderful gifts to decorate the Christmas tree.
Another creative volunteer made Grinches, painting faces on mango pits donated by a local restaurant. The pits harden like wood and the tiny caps are hand knitted by the same volunteer.
Greaney’s Last as Chair
This is Greaney’s swan-song, as she will be retiring after three bazaars as chairman and one as a co-chair. She attributes the success of the fundraiser to all the creative volunteers of the Auxiliary and the many non-members who help out the day of the event. She gratefully acknowledges the help from the sponsors who give their support with monetary donations and businesses who provide gifts and services that will offset the costs of running this Bazaar and allow all of the proceeds to go toward expanding Behavioral Health services.
“It makes it nice because we are supporting the community at the same time they are supporting us,” said Greaney.
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