BUCKLAND — The Mary Lyon Church’s Silver Bell Bazaar, a decades-long tradition that includes a luncheon, crafts for sale, more than 25 raffle items and a silent auction, will return on Saturday.
The event, held at both the church and in the Buckland Public Hall, both on Upper Street, will run from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., when the coveted craft item, a quilt, will be raffled off. This year, two illustrators from Ashfield will read from children’s books that they have illustrated.
The Silver Bell Bazaar is put on by the efforts of many church volunteers, who have done everything from making merchandise like birdhouses to cooking for attendees, said organizer Cyndie Stetson.
The bazaar acts as a fundraiser for the church, which is also known at the First Congregational Church of Buckland, Stetson said, and will include an ugly sweater contest ($5 per entry), judged by a panel of judges.
The big-ticket raffle prize, a quilt named “Mystery Solved,” was stitched by the quilting group that calls themselves the “Monday nighters,” said group member Sue Atherton.
The work on this year’s quilt began in January and was completed in June, Atherton said. The quilt’s pattern, which features links that chain stars together, won a blue ribbon at the Franklin County Fair earlier, she added.
Food, both to eat at the bazaar and to take home, will be another focal point. The buffet luncheon will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Doug and Penny Mollison have already begun preparing for the meal, Doug Mollison said, which served 77 people last year.
A short preview of this year’s menu includes two types of soup, baked beans, scalloped potatoes, rolled stuffed turkey, pot roast, macaroni and cheese, four-bean salad, vegetables and bread, with a handful of pies for dessert, Doug Mollison said.
“It’s just stuff that comes naturally to us,” he said, adding that the couple cooked for the Ashfield Fire Department in the town’s Fall Festival for four decades.
The luncheon will cost $12 for adults, $6 for children ages 6 to 12, and will be free for children under 6.
Illustrators of children’s books will provide entertainment for younger bazaar goers, Stetson said.
Margot Apple will bring two books that she wrote and illustrated, “Blanket” and “Brave Martha,” as well as the “Sheep” series that cemented her illustration legacy.
The series’ popularity soared, Apple said, due to the combination of teachers and librarians reading “Sheep in a Jeep” and children loving the rhyming scheme.
“That was my lucky day,” Apple said with a laugh.
Having illustrated between 50 and 60 children’s books, Apple said she knows her young audience well.
“I’ve done (readings) many times over the years, in schools, libraries and stuff like that,” she said. Which books she reads, Apple said, “depends on who shows up and what they want to pay attention to.”
When illustrator Beverly Duncan was part of the Western Mass Illustrators group, she met children’s book author Jane Yolen.
“Together, we came up with this idea of poems about the birth of Jesus (from the perspective of) animals,” she said.
Duncan will read their book, “Christmas in the Stable,” which Duncan said launched her illustration career, although she considers herself a botanical illustrator more than a children’s book author. She will also bring natural science books and greeting cards with her drawings for sale.
Reach Maureen O’Reilly at moreilly@recorder.com or at 413-772-0261, ext. 280.