Holiday shopping season kicks off with Christmas fairs

Nov 24, 2019

Crowds of people got their holiday shopping started on Saturday at craft fairs at the First Congregational Church of Wareham and the John W. Decas Elementary School.

The Harvest and Holly Fair, held at the church, included a hot luncheon and homemade apple pies, for sale in glass pie plates.

Church member Nancy MacNeill said the pies have been a hit every year since Phyllis Decas suggested the idea three years ago. Volunteers from the church gathered, prepared with boxes of apples, and working in an assembly line, made twenty-five pies. 

The fair also featured many crafts made by church members and friends, including tiny elves with pinecone bodies and ornaments made from seashells, felt, or corks.

The John W. Decas fair, put on by the Parent Teacher Association, was bigger than ever before, filling the gym and cafeteria and snaking through the halls of the school. 

“I go all out for Decas,” said Elizabeth Arone of Pumpkintown Farm Soaps. The mother of a Decas student, Arone said that the annual event is a “different type of community fair,” marked by the dedication and hard work of parents and teachers. 

Arone has been working on her Christmas soaps since the summer, because soap takes four to six weeks to cure. She sold them both by the bar and in gift sets of two bars, and only halfway through the event, had sold 151 of the 160 bars she brought.

“My Wareham people support me,” Arone said.

Hilary Kanter of Wicksmith had an array of holiday-scented candles, like Christmas hearth, cinnamon bun, and “Basic White Birch,” alongside year-round favorites. 

Kanter started making her own candles about a year ago and fell in love with the process. Her soy-based candles burn cleanly and are highly scented. She also makes wax melts for people who like the scent of candles but don’t want to have an open flame.

A mother and daughter duo came by and smelled the candles on offer, ooh-ing and ah-ing over the scents. 

“This is what I live for: When people come by and smell them and make noises,” Kanter joked.

Mabel Griffin, a former kindergarten aide at Decas, was selling a dazzling array of painted rocks with help from her granddaughter. Griffin said she had the idea to paint rocks at the beach, and now paints them in her spare time.

Along with various holiday-themed rocks, she had a wide variety of small stones perfectly sized for small hands to hold. 

“Pocket Pals,” as she calls them, are specially made for kids to keep with them in their pockets. The idea is that the pocket pals are like a good luck charm or a comforting object kids can hold when they feel lonely or anxious.

For upcoming fairs, go to Wareham Week’s online calendar.