Bazaar slated this Saturday

An event often called the official start of the Albany holiday season is set to start at 10:00 a.m. this Saturday, Nov. 10, with a new silent auction starring a “promising” German shorthair puppy.

Members of the Matthews Memorial Presbyterian Church have been decorating and cooking for weeks in preparation for this weekend’s annual church bazaar, which traditionally features home cooking, crafts, and a classic Thanksgiving meal.

Proceeds from the bazaar are used for charity and mission projects, most of them local. The event has been sponsored for well over one hundred years by the ladies group at the Presbyterian Church known for decades as the Sallie Matthews Circle.

Hunting Puppy

A female retriever donated by Jon and Joyce Gjerpe of Big Country Kennel will make an appearance at the bazaar this year, and will be the subject of a silent auction conducted during the event.

“This is a very promising German Shorthair puppy,” said Jon Gjerpe. “The pup has been to the field almost every day since it was eight weeks old.”

The dog is crate trained and used to traveling in a dog trailer as well as on a UTV, he said.

“She’s been introduced to quail the right way,” Gjerpe added. She retrieves and goes with you.”

The sire is Keg Creek Second Edition, who won the Open Derby before the Gjerpes purchased him.

“He is now one of our best guide dogs,” said the trainer, who added that the sire is the son of GAFC FC AFC Just Lucky Three Spot, whose parents were both National Field Champions.

The silent auction proceeds will go into the Circle’s fund.

Featured Items

A family tradition for many Albany residents, the doors to the Country Store and baked goods area of the bazaar will open promptly at 10:00 a.m. to provide shoppers time to purchase baked goods and handmade specialty items. 

“The Country Store will still have our traditional cakes, pies, and home-baked goodies, but the sale stuff will be changed up a little this year,” said Melanie McCarthy, one of several Circle members chairing various committees.

“In addition to the tenderloin meal baskets, we will have holiday door wreaths and ‘anything homemade that fits in a jar’,” she explained.

The specialty food baskets have been a popular item since they debuted two years ago. They hold a complete meal for four to six people, including George Harvick’s beef tenderloin along with cowboy corn casserole, creamed spinach with water chestnuts, rolls, and a dessert of either carrot cake or rum pound cake. 

The food is cooked and frozen in white oven-to-table dishes.

“This is the perfect meal to simply pull out of your freezer the night before your guests arrive and heat according to directions,” said McCarthy.

Traditional Meal

The highlight of the bazaar is the traditional holiday luncheon that will be served beginning at 11:00 a.m. The old-fashioned turkey dinner, complete with all the trimmings, is prepared by church members. 

The lunch menu includes turkey, dressing, giblet gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry relish, and assorted homemade pies.

Cost of the meal is $10 for adults and $5 for children under 10. Takeout dinners will be $10.

Bazaar Memories

Completed just about a month ago, a new bazaar video can be viewed by accessing the mmpc.org website and choosing “Events” in the top menu bar.

Several members of the congregation have also shared the video on Facebook.

The film, which features interviews with current MMPC members along with photos from previous bazaars, was professionally taped during the 2017 event.

Bazaar History

The Presbyterian Bazaar began in 1900 and was first held in the back of a local pharmacy, now know as Sanders Drug Store. Until the church’s educational building was constructed, the dinner was held n various empty buildings in Albany. 

First held in the building that now houses Sanders Drug Store, other locations utilized for the annual fundraiser have included the Western Skies Hotel (since replaced by the Bank Park), the Courthouse, the Hartfield building (Momentum), and the Whitney Theatre.

The event has apparently always been well supported by Albany residents and their guests, and the large attendance each year meant that an equally large dining hall had to be obtained, so the location changed frequently, depending on what building was available.

There wasn’t a turkey dinner that first year, but members sold sandwiches, coffee, and hot chocolate while shoppers browsed through handmade baby clothes, aprons and pillows, among other things, including items donated by merchants in Dallas, Fort Worth and Waco.

According to MMPC elder and historian Irene Wylie, the 1926 Bazaar had blankets hung from lines to partition the improvised kitchen from the dining area.

The kitchen featured washtubs filled with dressing that sat on the floor near the two big cook stoves that had been installed for the event, while the dining area had long, rough plank tables covered with spotless white cloths. The menu that year included turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, hot rolls, pies, and coffee.

“The food was set out on the tables in bowls and platters,” Wylie wrote. “This called for much passing and ‘neighborly’ talk.”

Then, as now, almost all MMPC members, not just those in the ladies group, helped with the bazaar.

The church is located at 211 S. Jacobs Street. Take-out orders can be called in at 325-762-2038.