Are you ready for a guilt-free Christmas? This year, put your money where your heart is. The annual Fair Trade & Handmade Bazaar will take place at the Hellenic Center, 54 Park Avenue, Poughkeepsie, on Saturday, Dec. 2, from 11 a.m.-5p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 3, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Cosponsored by the Dutchess County Interfaith Council (DCIC) and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Poughkeepsie (UFP), this year’s Fair Trade & Handmade Bazaar will be better than ever.
Like many faith communities, DCIC’s members believe in the connection between shopping choices in the United States and poverty and environmental damage throughout the world.
In response, the Fair Trade and Handmade Bazaar offers Dutchess County shoppers a wide array of high quality, unique and multicultural fair trade items just in time for the holiday gift giving season. These gifts are reasonably-priced and unique options that allow the buyer to feel a sense of alignment with the principles of the holidays.
Shoppers can browse through fair trade coffee and chocolate, fine jewelry, carved wooden bowls, woven baskets, pottery, hand-knitted clothing, or one-of-a-kind dolls. Importers include Equal Exchange, SERRV, Vision of Tibet and Vassar Haiti Project. Homemade treats made with local and/or organic ingredients will be available for enjoyment at the Bazaar.
Local artisans and artists, such as jewelry maker Thea Jensen and pottery maker Lynne James, will be present, as well as local nonprofits such as Relay for Life and the Sierra Club.
For more information, please contact Pat Lamanna at (845) 309-3853 or patla42@gmail.com, or visit our Hudson Valley Fair Trade and Handmade Bazaar Facebook page for information and pictures from previous Bazaars.