By Samantha Yates
The R. E. Lee Episcopal Church raised more than $8,000 at its annual bazaar Saturday.
“I’ve got more money to give, [so] it’s even going to go up,” co-chair Jane Brooke said Monday afternoon. “I think it’s going to be between $9,000 and $10,000 by the time we collect everything.”
A family tradition
The Episcopal Church Women have been running the bazaar since 1929. Brooke’s husband’s grandmother was one of its founders. The tradition started with the church women making canned plum puddings in 1925. It became a bazaar four years later.
“They used to make a lot more [plum puddings] than we do now,” said parishioner Carole Dent. “I know at one time they made 500 cans. And each can [weighs] two pounds. This year we made 130 cans.”
Dent said 40 or 50 members of the church help make the puddings beginning in September, then take them to a cannery near Harrisonburg.
Today, plum pudding sales – at $15 a can — account for about one-sixth of the bazaar’s proceeds. The bazaar now also includes a silent auction, used jewelry, handmade articles, baked goods and frozen foods in the Kountry Kitchen.
Selling the plum puddings goes back 75 years, but Dent has been trying to keep up to date in spreading the word about them.
“We put them on the church website this year,” she said. “And we’ve gotten a lot of orders through that. I’ve mailed to California, Florida, New York and Kentucky. And we’ve sent some larger orders – about eight to 10 cans – to Bedford and Crozet.”
Giving back
Proceeds from the bazaar initially went to the church. Now they are spread among local charities, including the Yellow Brick Road Early Learning Center, the Rockbridge Area Relief Association and the Rockbridge Area Health Center.
“We try to keep all of the money within the county,” parishioner Julia Grossman said. “Only a couple of the charities are outside the county.”
Members of the church donate most of the items for sale, but local restaurants — including Bistro on Main, the Sheridan Livery, Nikos and the Jolly Ox Grill — donated hors d’oeuvres this year.
Community support
For parishioner and Washington and Lee University senior McCauley Massie, Saturday’s bazaar was her first.
“I wanted to see all of the crafts made by the women of the church and was very impressed with everything that was for sale,” Massie said. “It was fun to hear some members of the church playing festive music…. It reminded me of home.”
Dent said it’s not just church members who come.
“There were some people I’ve never seen before. Even sometimes they tell us they’re visitors to Lexington who just happen to be passing through …. I think all the church members and community members generally come to support the church and the charitable activities. But they do seem to enjoy what they buy, and a lot of people do say they’re going to give them as gifts.”
Dent says the bazaar is becoming a difficult tradition to continue, though. It’s hard to get someone to lead the event because many church women now work full time outside the home.
“It ends up sometimes being the older retired people, which I am,” Dent said. “It’s a dying art. A lot of churches don’t have them anymore….When you get older it’s hard to have the strength to do this. But I hope it doesn’t die out. It’s a lot of fun and people appreciate it.”