| RABA Holiday Market |
 The Richmond Area Business Association (RABA) hosted the eighth annual Richmond Holiday Market on Saturday, December 4, 2010 from 9:00 am - 3:30 pm. This annual event has grown over the years and again was held in the Town Center in three buildings, including the Richmond Free Library; the Richmond Congregational Church, and the Richmond Town Hall. This year the day was complete with some light snow falling, just perfect to welcome Santa as he arrived in a horse drawn wagon. There were 44 vendors with festive booths displaying and selling their crafts and gifts; they all reported good sales and were pleased with an active and friendly crowd. As always the long line for Santa at the library was filled with excitement in the air, and this year the kids were treated to some juggling and card tricks by some helpers from MMU (Jackson Bressor and Austin Kemp). Wagon rides, pulled by two amazing horses belonging to James Kilpeck, were always full and added to the festive day. Delicious homemade food was served at the Congregational Church and new this year, there was also an outdoors food booth run by Bridge Street Café where grilled items and hot drinks were sold. There was live music playing to those in the Town Hall/Silent Auction room with a group lead by Jonathan Leonard of Richmond, called "Friends", and new this year the Camel's Hump Middle School Select Chorus sang three sets in the Library in the afternoon. All these different offerings add up to a fun and festive community day where people connect with others and support their local artisans. New this year, Bolton Valley Resort had a booth which was a nice addition to the mix and over 50 people picked up their passes in town at this event. Vendors were mostly local with 25 vendors coming from Richmond, 5 from Huntington, 5 from Jericho, 1 from Bolton, plus a few from Vergennes, Charlotte, and Williston. It was a nice mix with at least 10 new booths and a wide variety of gifts and goods to choose from. RABA's Silent Auction to benefit the RABA Scholarship Fund was chaired by Jody Cole and was again held in the Town Hall. There were over 90 items to bid on and money raised will be awarded to two MMU seniors heading to college in the fall of 2011. Jody reported that over $3000 was again raised this year for the Scholarship Fund. This year's Richmond Holiday Market Committee was chaired by Sherry Daniels and the committee of Jody Cole, Barb Willis, Janet Bonneau, Mary Claire Carroll, Pam Foust, Dave Thomas, Ted Yeates and Scott Cole all teamed up to make the event run smoothly. Many other volunteers contributed to making this a fun and festive community event, from the many people who prepare the great homemade food served at the church to those who posted our eblasts and sent out press releases, to those who helped set up and clean up the event. If you missed it this year, mark your calendars now for December 3rd, 2011, as the Holiday Market and Auction are always on the first Saturday in December. |
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