St. Brigid's bazaar is a holiday shopping success

HELPING HANDS: CCD Class members Melanie Vessella and Felicia Narvaez volunteered their time last weekend to help make the St. Brigid’s Bazaar and Bake Sale a special success.

(Sun Rise photos by Pete Fontaine)

SUPER STAFF: Fran Wilke (left), who again chaired the highly successful St. Brigid’s Holiday Bazaar and Bake Sale, is joined by Carol Marrocco, Joe DePasquale and Cathy Ibbitson, who prepared and served food to the many shoppers at last weekend’s event.

(Sun Rise photos by Pete Fontaine)

GREAT GARB: Ladies like Gayle Lentrichia, Mary Beth Smith, Karen Spitzer and Dorothy Godsoe are standing beside several mannequins that were part of the hand-knitted goods at the St. Brigid’s Holiday Bazaar and Bake Sale last weekend.

(Sun Rise photos by Pete Fontaine)

Johnston Sun Rise · Friday, November 25, 2016 1:41 pm

By Pete Fontaine

St. Brigid’s Church, 1231 Plainfield Street in Johnston, is relatively small compared to other Roman Catholic parishes in the area, yet last weekend’s holiday bazaar and bake sale was a huge success.

Chairperson Fran Wilke and Meredith “Merry” DeGuilio, with first-time volunteers Maria Lanni and Linda Matracia and Normand Girouard, turned the two-day event into a holiday shopping bonanza.

If you wanted gift baskets, Peggi LaTorre and Jean Cedor could fill just about every order. For custom jewelry, Maria Lanni of Regal Designs, a first time exhibitor at St. Brigid’s, could please just about any budget. And if you wanted Thanksgiving or Christmas decorations for your home or office or to give as gifts, Linda Matracia and Norman Girouard of Missy Creations had clever gifts, including homemade centerpieces to wreaths.

Perhaps the most unique of all was the wine table inside the church’s ground level multi-purpose auditorium, run by Merry DeGuilio. When asked how long she’s been hosting the wine display, DeGuilio said, “As long as we’ve had a bazaar and bake sale. This is fun; it never gets old. I love doing this.”

Few would dispute DeGuilio. Featuring a sign that reads, “Life’s too short to drink cheap wine,” the wine table invites people to purchase a bottle of name wine for $20. DeGuilio places it in a decorative bag and immediately hands the buyer a gift certificate that in most cases is also worth $20. The wine table always seems to be a sellout and has become very profitable for St. Brigid’s Church during the event’s previous years.

Melanie Vessella and Felicia Narvaez, members of Carol Morocco’s CCD class who attend Nicholas A. Ferri Middle School, staffed a Christmas table that offered everything from small, stuffed animals to statues of Santa Claus.

Meanwhile, Denise LoPresti’s bake sale table was filled with a variety of specially made items, pies and other caloric creations. Parishioners Cindy and Ron Galipeau said “could please even the fussiest of palates.”