Every year we have our Mennonite Craft and Bake Sale. This is a major part of how our church school is financially supported. Everyone pitches in and helps, making the day so much fun! If you are interested in coming in the future, this sale is always the Saturday right before Thanksgiving.
This year, I didn’t sign up for as many baked items as normal since we have a little baby in the house. Even then, it took almost all my time from 7 am to 5 pm on Friday to get all my baked goods made.
By midmorning, I realized I’d bit off more than I could chew. Four batches of bread dough were rising too fast for me to keep up on my own, so I called in the troops to help me. Not only were they very entertaining – they were a good help as well.
This is how I got my baking done with a 4 1/2 month-old baby. When he would fuss, the children took 5 minute turns at pushing him around the house in his stroller. Around and around they’d go. He loved every minute of it! Looks like he got the “reverse ride” this time. Thankfully, nobody dumped him on his head.
Let me tell you. A sale of this magnitude doesn’t come together without everyone pitching in! None of us could do this without the committee, the cooks, the cleaners, the babysitters, and all the little things that get done without being noticed.
The school children have a table full of goodies that they like to sell. Candy, pop, and class projects! However, they figure to help the sale by buying their own products. Good business plan, I suppose. Children will line up there with coins and dollar bills in their pockets, trying to decide which candy bar or pop they want.
A Mennonite sale is not a true Mennonite sale without a quilt or two hanging on the wall. Our church is divided into eight small groups. We call these the Bible Study groups and they are comprised of around 4-5 families. Every October, these groups get together and make a quilt or comforter for the sale. These are the ones you see hanging on the wall.
And who wouldn’t go to a bake sale without buying a homemade pie? Apparently most of the folks agree with you. Blueberry, pumpkin, raspberry, blackberry, apple, pecan – they look and are delicious! These pies go so fast that if you want the pick of the lot, you must be here before the doors open! By the time the sale ended this year, we only had one pie left on the table.
This is the table for the small crafts. Most of these items are made by the women in the church with anything from hand-painted items to table toppers and homemade soaps.
And if your hands are too full with all your goodies, just grab one of the menfolk standing around to help you out.
Some more homemade crafts and Christmas wreaths.
If you’re tired, you can always pretend you’re trying out the rocker and sit a spell.
Beautiful wooden bookshelves grace the walls, made by the men in the congregation. One day I’m going to bring home one of these for myself. Unfortunately, my house is too small to have much room for a big bookshelf like this. And I sure wouldn’t want to move Lowell out to the barn just to move a bookshelf in! (k, that was a total joke, y’all)
This is one of my favorite corners at the sale. The Book Corner. Here you’ll find lots of wholesome, used books for children and adults – as well as some brand-new ones.
This is another of my favorite places at the sale – The Food Line. I love to eat! We serve a breakfast array of homemade cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, yogurt parfaits, and hot coffee and chocolate. I noticed this year they even had a special gluten-free muffin for those who needed to eat gluten-free.
Homemade jams and jellies grace the end of the craft table.
A big part of what makes this sale so much fun for us as a church, is how we get to interact with the community. They touch our lives as much as we hope to touch theirs!
Now we’ll go outside where there are some more fun activities going on! This is The Kettle corn Stand. I bought myself a small bag of kettle corn, which was promptly devoured by everyone in the car on the way home. Delicious!
This little pony runs The Sorghum Press. I guess that’s what you call it! The children especially have fun helping with this. When it’s all done, we have fresh sorghum molasses to sell in pint jars.
This is the Apple Butter Shed. That is what they are cooking in the huge pot. It has to be stirred constantly for several hours. I wouldn’t know exactly how long since I’m not usually a part of this process. I just know that almost every time I went outside, somebody was there stirring and stirring and stirring. At least the fire keeps them warm!
Adjacent to our church building is The Rib Shack. This was one of Lowell’s favorite hangouts. Here they sell all you can eat ribs with sides cooked in dutch ovens. I tasted one of Lowell’s ribs, er, pork ribs – and they were scrumptious!
Some of these pictures will not mean a thing to most of you reading this post. But pictures like this I put up for those of our church families who are serving as missionaries overseas. We do miss them so, but are so thankful God is using them to further His kingdom while we keep the home fires burning.
Devouring what The Rib Shack had to offer. Me thinks they enjoyed themselves a little too much!
If you truly want a western experience, or just plain need to sit a spell, you can hop on The Haywagon. Rides were given all day long, although I never got away long enough to take a ride. A picture had to suffice for me.
This is the entrance to the sale and all the fun activities it had to offer.
As you can see, the children were very attracted by the sorghum press.
Apparently, the horse was off-duty at the moment.
🙂 I just loved this picture.
In another corner of the sale (yeah, we have lots of corners around here) is the cheese. Straight-from-Wisconsin-cheese! If you’ve never tasted those squeaky things called cheese curds, you’re really missing out. Just sayin’.
My favorite part again. The Lunch Food Line. This time we serve chili or potato/broccoli soup. Along with cornbread or a dinner roll, crackers, and pickle. Then you get your pick of any kind of pie. Can you say coconut cream? Or you can choose a piece of cheesecake instead. Yum. My kind of heaven.
Sweet kids. Not even mine, and I’m prejudiced.
Some of us nursery moms stopped for a quick picture of our babies. This isn’t all the babies in church and I wish we could have gotten them all. But this is Dallas and two of his girl buddies. Since he can’t sit up on his own yet, we propped him up between the two girlies. He looks a little perturbed.
“Hey, he’s mine! Keep your hands off, girl!”
Now for my absolute favorite part – The Auction.
The sale is from 8 am to 4 pm. After the sale has ended to the public, our church folks all eat the leftover soup, rolls, and pie for supper. Once supper is over, it is time for The Auction!
All the items that didn’t sell at the sale are auctioned off to us church folks. It’s so much fun! You see the guy in the middle? If you’ve ever watched “Fiddler on the Roof”, he would remind you of the papa. My friend, Darlene, commented on this yesterday and I hadn’t thought of it before. Deep, booming voice and ornery to beat the band. If he reads this, I hope he doesn’t make me take down that last comment . . .
Even the children love the auction! Once we’ve auctioned off all the leftover crafts and goodies, we move to the slave auction. Here’s an example: a church family says they will host a bbq supper for eight couples. This supper is then auctioned off to the highest bidder and seven more who will pay that price for the supper. We’ve had everything from a group of hard-working boys who volunteer to help you for a day to high tea with ladies.
The whole day is spent as a way to touch the community – but ends with it being a way to strengthen the fellowship between our own.
Oh yeah. And supposedly the sale is not The Sale without a little sugar thrown in.
And after a long, tiring, blessed day finally comes The End.
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Beth Cover says
Thanks for sharing! It was fun to see all the pictures 🙂 remind me of the craft sales we used to have. I especially liked the pictures of your little man in between two girls (hee hee) have a great day!
Darlene Byler says
Wonderful pictures, Kendra, n fun post too!!
Kathy Sadlier says
You got some great pictures Kendra!
Luci says
This was really fun, Kendra! Since I know most of you guys better than I used to, I loved staring at the pictures and picking out familiar faces. A step by step guide to what actually goes on during this big day was just what I needed to understand it. Wisconsin cheese curds are the best. And your babies jowls are priceless! Thanks for writing.
Geneva Skrivseth says
i really enjoyed seeing that! i was hoping to see a few pictures! 🙂 thanks!
Kay Schrock says
Fun to see pictures of some of the people! I haven’t seen some of those sweet ladies in years! ( lived there briefly as a kid) What a fun tradition.
Julia Shetler says
Enjoyed this.I will have to show Fannie:-)
Sarah Byler says
was fun to see this Kendra, you did us proud!
Jeni Beachy says
Thank you so much for all the pictures Kendra! I really enjoyed looking at them and seeing everyone!
Twila Peachey Smucker says
A great little peek at the school sale! I too LOVED the baby pictures…so priceless!
Marilyn Schlabach says
Wow, looks like a bunch of fun woven with a lot of work! Thanks for sharing, Kendra!!
Christy says
Loved this post! I recognize quite a few of the people! Loved the baby pictures too.
Kendra Byler says
Really nice Kendra…Thanks!
Renee says
Wow! It all looks like so much fun & delight! Thank you for sharing!
raisingcropsandbabies says
That day looks like SO much fun!!!
Stevo says
Wow! Good job on the pics and write-ups…like!
Living in the Shoe says
Hmm, only one “Stevo” I know!
Sue says
I admire and praise all your hard work in The Lord! May His Grace envelop you and yours now and forever! Thank you for sharing such a heart-warming day and the preparations that go into such a great community project. Living in urban areas for most of my life makes me yearn for such a gracious and wholesome way to incorporate community and church and school. To God be the glory:) Love in Jesus, sue
p.s. LOVED all of the smiles:)
Mariann Miller says
This is an interesting way to have a school sale! I have never heard of anything other then a public auction. It looks like a LOT of time goes into setting up & preparing food.
Lisl says
Thanks so much for posting these. Brought back memories from when I taught school. So many familiar faces. I’d love to visit again, but Thailand is a LONG ways away.
Renata says
This looks like so much fun! What a wonderful way to join together as a church family for a good cause! Thanks for sharing your photos. We have nothing like that over here in Australia!
Blessings
Renata:)
Living in the Shoe says
Wow!! Australia! That’s a long way from here. 🙂 I’m sure you have things we don’t, though!
Janet says
I’m not over seas but LOVED seeing these pics. You have really gotten GOOD with your new camera! I am SUPER impressed with the lighting in the auction pics…. gotta know your camera to get good PC’s like that. Hope we can be there next year. Chuckle, never thought of David as the fiddler on the roof man! Gotta love him 🙂 Wow, Sammie’s baby group is so cute. He s weighing in at 14 pounds and is nicely filling out his 3-6 months clothes. He sounds so indescribably precious as he says, “ah, dah dah.” and goes on and on with “dah dah dah dah dah!” in the sweetest baby voice. Melts my heart. LW we’ll see ya’ll in a coupla weeks 🙂
Living in the Shoe says
The pics were for you, too, Janet!!! Cannot wait to see you!
Cheryl says
I love reading your posts and taking a peek into your lives. Your family shines as a bright beacon of Jesus’ light in a dark, hopeless world. You epitomize what a Biblical family should look like. It was interesting seeing pictures of how your church family pulls together in unity to pull something off like this event. What a blessing! The pictures of your baby and the girls were just priceless! No doubt, he will cherish this later on in life. 🙂 Have a blessed day today, Kendra!
Living in the Shoe says
Thank you!
Melissa M. says
Loved all the pictures and descriptions of events! I wish I lived close enough to participate! I have to admit what touched me most was your description of how your church divides the people by families, not individuals or couples, as most other churches (including mine) does. That way when another family had a need, they can be ministered to by other whole families. I hope that makes sense. Blessings from my heart to you, Melissa M
Living in the Shoe says
It is special when you think of it that way! Makes it more family-oriented. Blessings to you as well!
wilma says
I love to read this and see the pictures.. Awesome picture of your son between the girls . We have hear school sales too and for church. We have a small c ongrega tion and just start with a ladies aid. Hope to have a sale in May. For our church. We hope that wwe once get our own school too, but on this moment to costly. They are searching for that to start up. That wiill be great.
God bless.
LOve, Wilma