Holiday bazaar draws bustling crowd

Around 11 a.m., Santa made a grand entrance on a fire truck and stayed to mingle with young believers.

“The kids really get a kick out of the fire engine and being able to see it up close,” said Angela Ekberg, parent and this year’s lead coordinator of the Holiday Bazaar Committee. “And then to see Santa step out is magical — much more magical than seeing Santa get back into his Toyota, since his sled is in the shop for preparations.”

And there was more.

Students’ holiday artwork hung on the walls and their nature crafts decorated the stage. Musical performances at the event included winter songs sung by kindergarten and first-grade classes along with performances by guitar students.

“We work to be as inclusive as possible so there were no tryouts or auditions,” said Ekberg. “If students are brave enough to want to perform, the stage is theirs.”

There were hands-on activities like making mini yule logs embellished with dehydrated oranges and local California sage and rosemary that a dedicated parent, Whitney Dewar, had gathered by hand. A new addition this year was a White Elephant game.

“We get a lot of toy and gift donations throughout the year by local stores, so this is a fun way to share those items with the kids,” said Ekberg.

Of course, there were also plenty of gifts and gadgets for sale everywhere, both inside and outside the building. Students and alumni were able to purchase mini booths for the day and sell their mostly handmade wares.

Priscilla Ebersele started to talk about her fifth-grader’s flower bombs for sale at the Green Team booth, but then an announcement came over the loudspeaker about the cake walk.

“I made two cakes for the cake walk and I just realized they’re at home in my fridge,” she said, before excusing herself and darting away with a smile.

Lila Conragan, the booth partner of Ebersele’s daughter Suranya Ebersele-Amtey, took over, explaining how to deploy a flower bomb, which is a small ball made of compost, clay and seeds that will carry seeds to anywhere they’re thrown come springtime.

Conragan, a founding member of the Green Team, also mentioned the school’s efforts to reduce plastic on campus.

“So like the trash cans,” she said. “We have the plastic liners, but we want to reduce what comes out of the school, so we’re going to turn those into compostable ones.”