St. Pius X will host their annual Holiday Marketplace from 9:00 a.m to 4:00 p.m on November 20. Shoppers can buy items as gifts for Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, or even themselves. This is the 27th St. Pius Holiday Marketplace with some of the same vendors coming back for over 25 years. 

The event is organized by the Mother’s Club, a parent organization whose primary focus is outreach within the community, according to Dean of Students Mrs. Rachel Braham. 

“So for students in particular, the whole point of the marketplace is to raise money for student scholarships,” she said. 

Mother’s Club member Debb Kling said, “Everything we earn goes to financially support your fellow classmates with tuition, sports, and the arts.”

With the precaution of COVID, the Holiday Marketplace has made updates to keep everyone safe and admission as simple as possible. 

“Tickets will be sold in advance as well as the marketplace door, ” Kling said. “It will be a cashless event and masks are required.” 

The Holiday Marketplace, composed of 150 vendors, will be held in both gyms and the breezeway. The bake sale, casserole sale, and concessions will be held in the Cafeteria. The raffle items, however, will be displayed in the concession stand by the main gym.

“We have a wide variety of vendors selling their handmade goods,” Kling said, including “jewelers, potters, clothing makers, painters, candle makers, sewers, woodworkers, bakers, photographers, and more.”

To be chosen as a vendor, you must submit photos of your products to the Mother’s Club for review. The Vendor Committee also emails past vendors to see if they are interested in participating again. 

“This ensures that our marketplace has a wide variety of offerings for all of our shoppers,” Kling explained. 

There is something for everyone at the Holiday Marketplace, but certain vendors tend to be crowd favorites. 

“The candles sell out first every year,” Kling said. “There are people who come just to buy a case of their favorites to give as holiday gifts.” 

Students have the opportunity to also volunteer and earn credit for a choice project with setting up the day before or helping the vendors the day of the event. 

“You walk around and help vendors when they need to move stuff or help them set up,” senior Avery Brown said. “If they need food or scissors and can’t leave the station, you go get the items for them.”

The Holiday Marketplace is a fun way for St. Pius to raise money for the needs of the community. Tickets are $5 each and can be purchased at the door in advance online.