TOWN OF MANLIUS – Christ Church in Manlius welcomed in its regular parishioners as well as outside community members for its 72nd annual Christmas Mart and Art Show held Saturday, Nov. 23.
The church at 407 E. Seneca St. displayed artwork ranging from paintings to pieces of pottery created by area artists; a silent auction with items donated by members of the church and a long list of local businesses; a photo album to peruse that went through the history of the holiday bazaar; and a gift basket raffle highlighting wines, coffees, gourmet goods and children’s books.
There were also tabletop boxwood arrangements, wreaths and poinsettias, and attendees could find crafts and jewelry made by youth groups and Christ Church’s Sunday school children.
The event also featured performances by church organist Deborah Cunningham and violinist Travis Newton, along with a luncheon with white spinach lasagna and a mixed greens salad on the menu.
The following day after church services concluded, even more items were sold, and 10% of the combined proceeds were donated to the Fayetteville-Manlius Food Pantry and Clear Path for Veterans.
Linda Albanese, who headed up the church’s wooden ornament decoration group for years until that was brought to an end last year, said she likes that the Christmas mart fosters a sense of camaraderie and lets people step inside the church to look around the place.
“I think the thing I like most about it is the community,” Albanese said. “Every year you see the same people coming back and greeting each other, and the way everyone works together to put this on every year is a real testament to the strength of our church and our surrounding community.”
Albanese said the event is meaningful to people locally and something they look forward to every year, with many able to share memories of attending in past years and even growing up going.
The Christmas mart had traditionally been held the first Saturday in December, but this year it was changed to the Saturday before Thanksgiving partly to allow the organizers more time to settle into personal Christmas preparation and partly because shopping season starts earlier every year, Albanese said.
Now seven decades into the event’s run, the Episcopal church started it in 1952 as a fundraiser for the construction of a new parish hall.
The sought-after, handpainted wooden ornaments were added to the holiday season sale the second year in 1953, boasting over a thousand individual pieces in hundreds of patterns.
Peg Cheney, then a fine arts student at Syracuse University, is credited as the woman who hatched the idea for those “crude” creations as they were called, though in truth she and others would put in long hours in their basement workshop to make them with love and shoppers used to wait in long lines in the early hours of the morning to be the first ones to buy them.
Though that wooden ornaments group has been discontinued, there’s still been a supply of ornaments to sell thanks to families who donate some of theirs back to the church for others to purchase and enjoy, including ones resembling angels with wings.
Albanese added that this year Cheney’s granddaughters stopped by the holiday mart and were “so thrilled” to see pieces of their family history and learn more about their grandma’s handcrafting work. As Christmas gets closer, the church also sets up a tree adorned with any wooden ornaments remaining in stock.