The Jolly Holly Fair last week on Saturday, December 6th proved to be the best of holiday fairs to be found on Staten Island. The Committee was committed to enriching the Fair this year and we were successful: highest gross ($6,901.00) in recent years; NY1 visited the Fair and taped a segment; our new layout plan worked. In addition, we started our planning sessions earlier; started collections earlier (and assured that all were “worthy” of our Fair); got a jump on Raffle collection and ticket selling; shared the day with Friends of Fire and shared our visitors; introduced Auctions on the Fly. The result? Our 10:00 a.m. visitors found a transformed Parish Hall that was orderly, festive and seemed to sparkle. The offerings in all our booths never looked better. The Café served so many people, I imagine that local eateries felt the pinch!

Our unsung supporters are all of you who donated everything we sold, promoted the Fair among your family and friends and came to the Fair. There would be no fair without your generosity. Lots of JH purchases are going to be found under Christmas trees and other Holiday giving and that’s very satisfying.

Take note for next year: Mary Lou and Brad have retired from the Plant Booth and Margarita has retired form Arts/Crafts/Vintage. The Greenes and Margarita will offer clear directions on what they do and how they do it. This will ensure a good transition to the booths’ leadership in 2009. No amount of newsletter space can offer adequate gratitude for the wonderful work Mary Lou and Brad and Margarita have provided. Their booths reflected their talents and those personal touches will be missed. So, the challenge is to you! Who are the next Chairs of those JH booths? If you’d like to consider it, please call me at your earliest convenience (no, we haven’t started planning JH2009 exactly but this is the optimum time to inquire with a fresh fair on your minds).

Many thanks to you all and best for a lovely Holiday Season.



- Chris Johnson, Chair