Page 363 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

is to hold a bazaar; but, because bazaars have become commonplace, they
need to be dramatized in order to attract the crowds.

A suburban church did this very successfully by calling its bazaar a
Florentine Fair. The auditorium in which the bazaar was held was decorated
to resemble a street scene in Florence, Italy. Colorful hangings were used
over the booths and elsewhere around the room, and those who took part in
the bazaar were dressed in the picturesque Italian costumes. A high spot of
the fair was an “open air” restaurant, with bunches of garlic and all the other
things which give atmosphere to a Florence street cafe prominently
displayed. Street singers strumming Italian melodies added the final touch of
color to the scene.

As a further attraction, arrangements were made with an importer of Italian
delicacies to have a booth at the fair. Those members of the organization who
had Italian hangings or furniture were asked to lend them for the occasion.
The most popular attractions were the flower booth, with its bevy of dark-
haired flower girls, and the Italian handicrafts booth.

The fair was a great success. Whereas the ordinary bazaar held by this church
would net $1,000, the bazaar with this Florentine setting netted better than
$3,000. One of the reasons for this was that the local newspapers gave the
fair unusually good publicity because of its humaninterest value.

A Mile of Pennies

T

HE idea here is to induce all the members of an organization and their friends
to save their pennies in small cloth bags. Each bag holds sixteen pennies,
which laid side by side make one foot of pennies. A tag explaining the plan is
attached to the bags when they are given out. Since there are sixteen pennies
to a foot, and 5,280 feet to a mile, if all the bags are filled and turned in, it
will net an organization $844.80.