The Bazaar

Saturday we went to RAF Lakenheath for their big Bazaar. For years I've been hearing from my friends about how the overseas bases have these great "Bazaars" with all these great vendors out selling their wares. So I finally got to attend one of these "Bazaars" and this is what I found...

Pashmina Shawls- must have been at least a half dozen vendors selling these things. I bought a handful when we went on our last cruise. At the Bazaar there were ones in every color of the rainbow plus extra fancy ones! I admit it now, I bought 2 of the extra fancy Pashminas, the floral designs were amazing and the fact that they had a bit of gold and silver thread woven through them that gives them this iridescent shimmer...WOW!

Wine, Beer and Food- oh my! Yes there were vendors selling all sorts of food items. from imported cheeses, wines and beers, to dried pasta form Italy and chili fixin's from Texas. There was one booth that had a chocolate fountain and they were selling skewered fruits dipped in chocolate- oh that looked sooo tempting! But knowing me, I would have managed to find a way to get it all over myself.

Antique Furniture- several vendors there selling unique pieces, but dang were they expensive! The furniture looked great, but to be honest I could buy similar items from an antique shop for less.

Home is where the Air Force Sends You Signs- I've wanted one of these for years but never knew where to get them. The line around this booth was over a mile long. There was no way I was going to wait in that huge line...maybe I'll see them at another one of these Bazaars.

Jewelry- Lots of great Sterling Silver, and handmade jewelry items to be had here and all at great prices! From original handmade glass pendants to charms for charm bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and rings! Andrew has been wanting to buy his girlfriend Samantha (she lives in SD) a Claddagh ring. We've looked high and low, found one at an antique store but it was very expensive and way too big. So I was looking around at the items the various jewelery vendors had for sale and there they were Claddagh rings! I found one for Samantha's petite hand- Andrew was happy (of course that was only temporary). Hannah bought herself a ring and well in the end, I bought a Claddagh ring for myself- as you know, a girl can never have too many rings!

Rugs- there were some really nice looking imported rugs at affordable prices. But alas, we're still in temporary quarters and I have no idea what size rug I'd need to go under the table in for the breakfast area. So that will have to wait for another time.

Artwork- Loads of artwork to be had! From water colors to oil paintings and all kinds of wall art! There was something for everyone, there really was! From African Art to Indonesian Art to Americana Folk Art and French Country Art!

Knick Knacks/Brica Brac - There was tons and tons of this kind of stuff available everywhere! Again, it depends what you're into collecting. One of my most favorite things to collect is Matryoshka dolls, those nesting wooden dolls from Russia. And there was a vendor there selling them- yes I bought one. I kick myself for not getting a couple more to have on hand as Christmas presents. I'm wanting to go to the next Bazaar in hopes of finding the Matryoshka vendor there so I can get my niece one of them for Christmas. The Faberge Eggs were breathtakingly beautiful! These were exquisite masterpieces to behold!

British Bone China and Polish Pottery- Only one vendor had an all Polish Pottery booth, although there were a handful of booths that had Polish pottery pieces available for purchase along with many other kinds of items. I could not believe that there were so many different Polish Pottery designs, all of them beautiful! I fell head over heels in love with two pieces that have the hand painted Lavender design on them ( an over sized mug and a 9x12 rectangle serving dish). Talk about unique looking! When I first looked at them it made me think of Texas Bluebonnets, but once the shop owner started telling me about the unique pieces he had for sale and how he goes to Poland and has gotten to know some of the the various pottery company owners and their artists it really made me love this pottery even more! There are designs done for the English market, American market, there's even a line for the growing Canadian market and lets not forget of course the traditional Polish designs we all first fell in love with. I do not have dishes per say other than a couple of mugs and of course tea cups and saucers. I'm concentrating only on serving pieces and bake-ware. In my honest opinion, nothing cooks food so well as stoneware.

Now the bone China was nice, but there was nothing to grab my attention. I looked at it but thought that I could do better with buying this stuff at the local antique shops since the vendors wanted to sell me an entire tea service and not just one teacup and saucer.

Children's Toys and Collectible Toys- There were oodles of toy vendors at this event! From dealers in the collectible toy market to actual toys kids could play with, LOL! Again something for children of all ages! I suppose that you could put my Matryoshka dolls in either of these categories ;-)

Direct Marketing companies- There were independent sales consultants from Longaberger, Pampered Chef, Stampin Up, Discovery Toys, and a few more that I can't remember the names of at the moment.

There were a handful of vendors selling their handmade items- my favorite one being the booth manned by these 2 little old ladies that sold their hand knitted items. One of them was spinning and making her own wool yarn while the other was knitting away making an adorable child sized sweater! This was simply incredible in my book! They had so many beautiful items there and I fell in love with the little hand-knitted sheep- so much so that I bought myself a small herd. I plan to e-mail her and put in an order for 20 more of them so I can give them out at Christmas time as presents rt maybe I'll keep them for myself and tie little strings to them and hang them all over my Christmas tree, LOL!

So there it is, I'm sure that I didn't even cover half of the stuff that was there. The event was held in an aircraft hanger and the place was HUGE!