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Page 20 NEWFOUNDLAKELIFE.COM September 2023 Community
All the Happiness of the Hebron Church Fair
By Donna RhoDes
HEBRON – For the 71st year, a one-day marketplace popped up in Hebron Village on July 29th as crowds of peo- ple from all over flocked to the annual Hebron Church Fair, where vendors, food, live music, and children’s games filled the day with fun for those of all ages. Committee volunteer Jan Connor said, “This is won- derful! So many people put so much time into making this all happen!”
She and her fellow commit- tee members were also grateful for this year’s assistance from nearby youth organizations. On Friday, the girls from Circle Camp pitched in to help with the set up on the town common. Then on Saturday morning, groups from camps Mowglis, Onaway, and Wicosuta arrived to help get the fun for children going on the “Midway.” There they oversaw a duck pond where little ones could scoop up a duck for prizes, a beanbag toss, a Frog Launch game, and, under the hot sun that day, a very popular Dunking Booth.
Gillian Van Schaick was one of the three volunteers who headed up the organization for this year’s church fair, along with her husband Jim, and fel- low Hebron resident Bill York.
“It’s a real team effort every year. This year we had about 30 people working on the fair, and we started all the planning for it back in February,” she said.
The results were 86 vendors who signed on to take part in the event, along with three food trucks and even an ice cream truck this year.
“Just look at the smiles on all the faces! Everyone is enjoying themselves,” Van Schaick said.
There were also lots of famil- iar faces at the vendor booths, too, including artist Charlie Kuizinas (The Cosmic Moose),
local musician and birch bark artist (Uncle) Steve Furbish, and jewelry designer Nancy Mills of Brownies Beads. Other talented artisans brought their photog- raphy, paintings, woodwork and carvings, handmade cloth goods, glassware, and countless more crafts that were featured
that day.
As always, the Women from
the Hebron Church had deli- cious homemade pies for sale, by slice or a whole pie, while spices, canned jams, and other culinary delights were also found along the common. The church itself also had a booth
where they welcomed donations to causes they support. As a ben- efit to several nonprofit groups, they sold girls’ dresses to support Dress A Girl Around the World, accepted donations for the local TTCC’s Every Child is Ours campaign for children in need of nutritional support, the Can Tabs for Shriners Hospitals na- tional program, Disaster Relief funding, Puppy Pennies, Warm Neighborhood Wishes and many more.
The Newfound Lake Orga- nization in Bristol took part in the day as well. Volunteers were on hand to explain their mission on clean water initiatives, spread the word about their Eco-Tours each summer, and encourage people to sign up for their news- letters about topics concerning the sustainability of Newfound Lake. In addition, they held a raffle for a paddleboard that was to be awarded to one lucky winner that day.
Van Schaick said the com- mittee was also excited to bring live music to the common this year, with musical performances scheduled throughout the after- noon.
As the sun set over Hebron Village that night, the com- mittee hoped everyone would remember that their popular Hebron Church Fair is held on the last Saturday in July each year and will come back to join them once again in 2024.
Local artists and crafters such as (left to right) Charlie Kuizinas of Cosmic Moose Art in Bristol, Bridgewater birch artist Steve Furbish, and the jewelry created by Nancy Mills of Brownies Beads in Alexandria were among the 86 vendors on hand at the Hebron Church Fair on July 29th.
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Photos by Donna Rhodes