Snowbird – The third annual Christmas Bazaar returned to the Snowbird Complex on Friday, Dec. 13, as more than a dozen vendors offered an array of products from locally made jerky to hand-crafted jewelry and beadwork.
Set up in the Snowbird gym to avoid the day’s inclement weather, shoppers could fill their loved ones’ stockings with jewelry from Mary Brown’s Cornsilk Branch Crafts, which featured Brown’s own creations as well as those she has taken on consignment.
“I try to help people out by selling their work,” said Brown, who has attended arts and crafts fairs for many years. “A lot of people do arts and crafts, but just can’t make it to the fairs.”
Across the gym floor, Monique T. Sokol sat patiently doing beadwork.
“It’s my therapy,” Sokol said.
Sokol, who creates a variety of jewelry using beadwork and other techniques, has been beading since the age of eight.
”It just relaxes me,” Sokol said. “It’s like knitting is for a lot of people; it’s almost like meditation.”
Tseshani Tribal Art Design shared a table with Sokol, with Tseshani Amadedoti’s cut shell bead jewelry taking center stage. Amadedoti travels the world to find the ideal types of shell for his jewelry-making, and Tseshani Art also offers stone and wood carving, weaponry, pottery, and regalia.
Though the dark skies kept some shoppers away, the bazaar went on for four hours, with hand-made wool hats, original metalwork, all-natural skin-care products and hand-crafted Christmas decor offering shoppers options for just about anyone’s holiday taste.
The 2020 Christmas Bazaar will be relocated, as construction of the new community center will be underway.