SEQUIM — Reuse, revive, re-imagine, recycle and up-cycle: That’s how the dozens of Dungeness Valley Lutheran Church crafters create the hundreds of items one will find at the church’s annual bazaar, set from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
The bazaar will be in the church’s sanctuary, 925 N. Sequim Ave.
The event includes everything from fashion accessories and baby bibs to walking sticks and yard art. Local author Gene Bradbury, a retired Lutheran minister, will be on hand to sign and sell copies of his children’s books.
Combined with the thousands of pounds of lefse, stollen, Yulekake and gingerbread and the gallons of potato sausage soup that the kitchen crew serves, the one-day event raises thousands of dollars for Sequim-area nonprofits.
First held in 1999, the bazaar has raised more than $66,000 for area charities since 2010 alone.
Each dollar spent at the bazaar stays in the community as a donation, organizers say. The 2016 event raised about $10,000 for such beneficiaries as Clallam Mosaic, My Choices, Captain Joseph House Foundation, Voices for Veterans, Peninsula Behavioral Health, Clallam-Jefferson County Pro Bono Lawyers, the First Step Family Support Center, Healthy Families of Clallam County and the North Olympic Foster Parent Association.
The crafters, who pride themselves on creating high-quality, unusual and often one-of-a-kind items, work 11 months of the year on the bazaar, starting with brainstorming sessions each January and continuing until the wee hours of the day of the event.
Tables are full of Christmas decorations and gifts as well as items that are usable year-round. Seashore, seafood, Mariner and Seahawks themes are common, too.
