Director’s Corner December 2022

Happy Holidays!  Christmas is right around the corner, and the La Pine Activity Center couldn’t be busier with tons of December activities for our community!
Our first Winter Traditions Craft Bazaar held November 25-27 at the La Pine Parks and Recreation building went very well!  One of our center volunteers, Amy Hill, who owns Hillstead Farms  in La Pine, put together all the decorations and did an outstanding job!
We had a total of 51 vendors from as far away as Portland! One of these, Outta My Gourd, actually became Center volunteers, helping to set up and take down after the event!
A BIG thank you goes out to  Lori and Jerry Scott, Janice Delzer, and Dave Ott, who were indispensable to us with all they did.  
I estimated that the first day of the event we easily saw 400 to 500 people stop by; in fact, some vendors paid for their booth rental in the first hour!  
Newport Avenue Market in Bend bought $5800 worth of sugar-free jams, taffy and other products from vendor  Outta My Gourd, an amazing day for this vendor.
The Winter Traditions Craft Bazaar saw quite a few new vendors, too, some from the valley, Klamath Falls, and lots of Rhubarb Festival repeats. There was Purple Door Creations from Gilchrist,  Betty Summers floral arrangements had two booths, and had the best  showing at any festival she’s ever done.  Deer Wood Designs from Portland had five or six tables and did very well.  Natalie Blair from Cup-N-Cake Creations by Natalie, a cottage home bakery right here in La Pine,  provided cake pops, cocoa bombs and other fresh treats.
As a result of this festival, we have over 200 vendors on our list now for future events!
In other news, Jenny Pedersen, Community Librarian with the Deschutes Public Library, will be starting free sessions to help people with their legal questions at the La Pine Activity Center on the first Thursday of the month from 10-noonish (while Thrive is there or longer if needed). She will be starting this in either January or February, 2023.
A big THANK YOU goes out to Stu Martinez, who is going to be sponsoring a free veterans lunch once a month from January to March in 2023.  We are excited to be able to have these free lunches to show our appreciation for our location veterans.
That’s all for now – have a wonderful holiday season and see you in 2023!