The holiday season is upon us, and the perfect place to go gift shopping was the Blizzard Bazaar Holiday Vendor Show held in Sewall Center on Dec. 6.
The event was a project by the Communication Seminar class group, Ace Productions, who hosted a holiday vendor show to benefit Toys for Tots. The group consists of seniors and event coordinators: Courtney Sitter, Emily Pasquarelli and Amanda Axelson.
“In high school we did a lot for Toys for Tots,” said Sitter, “so we figured since it was around the holidays, (the Blizzard Bazaar) would be an event people would want to donate to and we love to see kids happy on Christmas.”
The beginning of the third floor of Sewall had a selection of baskets as raffle prizes purchased by the group. The baskets were full of holiday items that the group thought would make great presents.
“We’re really hoping to get a great turnout from the community,” said Pasquarelli, “We have gift wrapping and over $600 worth of raffle prizes, and we are just really excited to get things kicked off.”
This charity event is also part of a class project for the Community Seminar class taught by Ann Jabro, Ph.D., professor of communications. She was very proud of the accomplishments of Ace Productions.
“When you look around and see something like this put together by three college students, “Jabro stated, “…these ladies started out this event with $600 for Toys for Tots, so how smart is that?”
The group put a lot of work into spreading the word about their event. With their resourcing, Ace Productions commissioned a free billboard on Route 376.
“So all along 376…, “said Jabro, “We’ve got Robert Morris University’s name out there for the Blizzard Bazaar and no one knows that this is a student group.”
Many people were excited and started showing up when the doors opened at 11 a.m. Refreshments were provided and Santa Claus even made a guest appearance for pictures and to spread the holiday cheer.
“I think this is wonderful,” said Santa, “very nice and very organized. It looks nice and is very appealing. Hopefully people will come and enjoy It and contribute to Toys for Tots.”
“We all need Christmas presents that are a little more unique than something you find at a store, “said Tracy Frazier, a shopper accompanied by husband, Eric Frazier, and friend, Cassandra Oden, “so craft shows like this are a good place to find them. There was some woodwork that went by that we’re going to check out.
The Blizzard Bazaar Holiday Vendor Show was a success with numerous vendors and customers entering the doors. The group didn’t have a set goal in mind, but were very happy with how everything turned out.
“(The Blizzard Bazaar) was very well organized,” said Frazier, “I worked on committees to put together events and know what is behind it, it’s a lot of work so we are very, very impressed.”
