Donald Teuma-Castelletti
CAMPBELL’S BAY
Dec. 8, 2018
Class may have been out of session for the weekend, but at least one school in the Pontiac saw many coming and going, as an annual Christmas market attracted visitors from all over.
St. John’s Elementary School held their Christmas Sale on Saturday, turning the gymnasium into a marketplace as vendors featured varieties of items in the third annual event.

Organizer Wendy Moore said this market began as a way to not only feature local vendors, but attract shoppers to Campbell’s Bay’s various other businesses, too.
Expanding to 35 vendors, she said that though many were returning, about half were brand new to their show.
Currently, St. John’s is fundraising to purchase a new play structure for grades 4, 5 and 6 students for their grounds. Now into the final leg of fundraising, the school is hoping to reach their goal of $15,000 by the end of March. In total, the structure will cost $45,000, with the school having to put up a third of the cost.
Besides raffles at the market, several other fundraising activities coincided with the event.
Starting two weeks ahead of the show, an online auction saw many items help to raise an additional $1,585 towards the school’s goal.
A canteen running during the show served up lunch, as student volunteers did their part to help with the fundraising. Moore said these weren’t the students’ only efforts, as she had relied on them to set up much of the gymnasium and cafeteria for the market, plus making a variety of posters.
Finally, a new and welcome addition for the day was that of a children’s room, where youngsters could be dropped off for a variety of activities. With the little ones supervised by two teachers, free to colour, play games, and watch cartoons, parents could take their time to browse all there was for sale.