The Missouri School for the Deaf Parent's Organization is hosting the first annual Holiday Bazaar to support the Missouri School for the Deaf athletics department.
The Holiday Bazaar will be tomorrow, December 10, at Harrison Gym at the Missouri School for the Deaf (505 East 5th St.). The bazaar will be from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
A variety of vendors will be in attendance. According to the MSDPO Facebook page, some of the confirmed vendors include Ethereal Bloom, Lavish Bath Creations, Sandy Drummond, Missie Gilleland, David Lowe, Lori Bernicky and Amanda Maggard.
The vendor fee of the event is $30. All money raised through vendor fees will go towards the MSD athletic department and help them purchase new uniforms and equipment for the student-athletes, according to the MSDPO Facebook page. The money raised will also go towards travel expenses for athletic trips.
Live music will be playing at the bazaar. There will also be a sign language Santa for kids to meet.
The Holiday Bazaar is free and open to the public.
Frannie Hemp, president of the Missouri School for the Deaf Parent's Organization, said she was inspired to start the Holiday Bazaar to encourage and support individuals to learn.
Hemp said the athletic department was not able to raise enough funds because of COVID-19 rules.
Hemp said the MSDPO wants to remind the community about MSD and see how important supporting the school is.
The MSDPO started planning the Holiday Bazaar around October, Hemp said. The group hosted homecoming for the school, and then began to focus on planning the Holiday Bazaar once homecoming was over.
Hemp said planning the Holiday Bazaar took so long because of impacts from the pandemic.
One important aspect of the Bazaar to Hemp is for local businesses to get noticed and help recover from the pandemic.
Hemp said the event still needs more vendors. Around 11 vendors are currently signed up for the Holiday Bazaar, and the goal for the MSDPO is to reach a total of 30 vendors.
"This is a good start, for this to be our first year doing this bazaar," Hemp said.
The MSDPO plans to continue hosting the Holiday Bazaar in the future. Other events will also be hosted as well to support the MSD.
Hemp said she hopes for a strong turnout at the Holiday Bazaar to shop the local vendors and take part in the other events.
CORRECTION: The vendor fee for the Missouri School for the Deaf Parent's Organization Holiday Bazaar is $30 for a 6 ft. table and 2 chairs, not $50 as originally reported. Planning for the Holiday Bazaar began in October 2022, not October 2021. The planning of the event was a group effort of the MSDPO, not just Frannie Hemp.