St. Mary's brings holiday cheer to Longboat

Three years ago, Jane Vorel’s granddaughters gave her an angel ornament made out of ribbon.

Since then, Vorel has learned how to make the ornaments and is passing the lesson on to other members of the St. Mary, Star of the Sea, Catholic Church’s Women’s Guild.

Those ornaments were just some of the many handmade Christmas decorations the women’s guild members worked on to prepare for this year’s Christmas Bazaar.

The members watched their hard work come to life as shoppers swarmed Father Edward Pick Hall on Nov. 18. From baked goods and Christmas wreaths, to jewelry and ornaments, the annual Christmas Bazaar had enough items to complete everyone’s holiday wish list.

Clara McGonigle, Andy Youngs and Carol Fischbein organized this year’s bazaar. It wasn’t their first time organizing it, so they said to keep it fresh, they’ve found that variety works.

McGonigle explained that for handmade items, such as scarves, those who make them look at trends to see what people will be looking for.

“We can appeal to grandmothers who give [these] to daughters and to granddaughters,” she said.