How its members have done that, however, has looked different over the years.
When the bazaar first launched in 1963, organizers combined it with rummage and bake sales. ESA members handcrafted goods and brought items to sell while members of the Eastern Star, a Freemason-affiliated group, baked homemade goodies.
By 1972, the bazaar stood alone and ESA members had begun inviting vendors to sell to Rangely shoppers. The initial response was good. By 1978, members had decided to move the bazaar from the Masonic Lodge (now Giant Step Preschool and Childcare Center) to the old Parkview Elementary School building on Stanolind Avenue.
Once ESA started serving food during the traditional Sunday afternoon time slot, the event became as much about socializing as it was about shopping.
“In the early years, everybody would come from church, have lunch and sit around and visit,” ESA vice president Gail Palmer said. “Everyone looked forward to seeing everybody.”
There were other advantages to the change. While vendors filled the spacious gymnasium, a small alcove outside the gym provided a venue for extra entertainment: a fashion show one year, a Christmas program on another. Money raised still contributed to local and area needs, from purchasing equipment for a special-needs school in Grand Junction to the book fund scholarship still in existence today.
The ESA bazaar moved again to the Central Offices (now the Early Education Center and preschool/ kindergarten) in the mid-1990s before returning to Parkview in 2000. Once the building was torn down, the new elementary school—formerly Rangely Middle School on River Road—was tapped as the new location.
ESA President Brenda Hopson, like other members, has a long association with the bazaar. Her mother, Mary Hall, coordinated the event for years before Hopson “inherited” it.
Hopson said that while locations, dates and other details have changed, everyone knows and understands her role, which is key to the bazaar’s success each year.
“We’ve all been doing it for so long that we have certain routines we each do,” said Palmer, who has been helping since 1969.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of work involved. Around August, the group begins inventorying supplies, applying for advertising funding and contacting vendors. The Saturday before the event is spent prepping the kitchen and planning spaces for vendors, and the days following involve sales tax figuring, doling out funds and counting remaining inventory.
The work is worth it: each year, ESA raises thousands of dollars for Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital and local causes.
This year, one longtime ESA contributor, Martha Mitchem, was absent from the bazaar. Absent, too, were her customary pot of coffee, her cash box and her famous cream puffs.
However, the ESA women agreed that Mitchem, who passed away earlier this month, was in their thoughts and hearts on Sunday.
“We’re all sisters, ESA sisters, and that’s how we’re known,” Hopson said. “That’s what we do.”
