The Woman’s Club of Evanston held its annual Holiday Bazaar this weekend, drawing over a hundred attendees.
About 50 vendors sold hand-made products such as sea salt, handmade bags, wax and wire pendants, and custom-made stained glass.
“We have lost an art here in the United States,” this year’s Holiday Bazaar chair Ina Strickland said, referring to handmade products. “Everything is mass-produced, and it is just nice to have something that is uniquely made. You can take a little piece of the state of Illinois back with you that is meaningful and homemade.”
Vendors debuted their work with an opening party Friday, where attendees shopped for products, ate food and purchased drinks. While the opening party had a $25 fee, the Saturday and Sunday events were free for community members.
Attendee Jodi Samuels said she and her husband are from Sacramento, California, but they have a second home in Evanston a block away from the Woman’s Club. She said they came to the opening party to be more involved in the community.
“We knew that the whole weekend, anyone could come for free, but we thought, why not pay a little more and have some fun for the opening party?” Samuels said. “(The event) is bigger than I expected and there’s a lot of variety of different arts and crafts.”
Strickland said the money raised from the bazaar would go to a community grants fund — to which nonprofit organizations in Evanston can apply for grants. Grants will be awarded in spring 2025, she said.
Stained glass vendor and retired Southern California police officer Michael Cover said this was his first time at the bazaar. He said he traveled for the bazaar from his hometown in Williamston, Michigan, and heard about it through Strickland.
Cover said he took up stained glass as a hobby after retiring at 50 due to medical issues.
“I am not someone who sits idle, I don’t sit in front of the TV,” he said. “It just steamrolled into what I do now. When somebody gets a piece and they really love it, that’s what I go for.”
Vendor Amy Beyer, founder of Salty Provisions said this was also her first time at the bazaar. Her business is the world’s largest importer of Norwegian sea salt.
“It’s exciting to have new faces and new people to introduce our products to,” Beyer said. “These people are artisans. They’re handcrafted, I mean just even these other food vendors that are here like the quality in the caliber. It’s exciting to be included in that company.”
Three-time bazaar vendor Nazneen Husain said customization, sustainability, recycling and repurposing are priorities for her and her purse and bag company, “Nazneen’s Pursenality,” when it comes to creating bags and purses.
Born in Hyderabad, India, she said she loves to take art made by Indian artists and give them “sturdier lining and hardware.”
“My husband calls it my ‘Taj Mahals,’” Husain said. “It’s nice to know that when you come to a place over and over again, you see the same thing that they bought on them, or they come and tell me that it’s lasted, and they love it. That’s what really inspires me.”
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