Silly Market gets bizarre with Holiday Bazaar

Tyler Cobb / The Park Record |
While historic Main Street gets silly during the summer with the Park Silly Sunday Market — a fully green, open-air weekly arts event — the Park City Marriott gets bizarre with the Silly Holiday Bazaar.
The bazaar, presented by the Park Silly Sunday Market, has been held at various venues over the past seven years, the past three years at the hotel, located at 1895 Sidewinder Drive.
The event will run Friday through Sunday, Dec. 1-3. Friday’s hours are 5-9 p.m.; Saturday’s hours 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday’s hours 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free.
Park Silly Sunday Market Executive Director Kate McChesney said she is grateful to the Marriott.
“We’re super excited to for them to offer their space again,” McChesney told The Park Record. “Time goes by so fast, and we’ve been fortunate to have their support.”
Like the Park Silly Sunday Market, the Silly Holiday Bazaar will feature an array of homemade artistic, unique and sometimes quirky gifts.
“This year we have 90 vendors ready to go,” McChesney said. “They will offer everything from lotions and potions and photography to handmade hats, sweaters and boots.”
Other vendors will sell gourmet foods, photography, jewelry and art.
“Everyone who participates is a true arts-and-crafter, which is what Park Silly strives to support,” McChesney said.
One of the new vendors lives in Park City but has relatives who live in Argentina.
“The family is sending some of the winter wear they make and those items include T-shirts, booties and hats,” McChesney said.
Another new vendor is Traci Pelton, who goes by the moniker Timeless Pieces by Traci.
“She makes jewelry out of watch and clock parts and gears,” McChesney said. “She has never done a market before and her significant other volunteers for us. So she finally decided to sell her jewelry with us.”
Live music is another element the Silly Holiday Bazaar has toyed with over the past few years.
“We haven’t had live music for while because the Marriott is such a small venue and carolers have a tendency to get really loud,” McChesney said. “But we found someone who is going to be perfect.”
McChesney is talking about a 13-year-old violist named Michael McNamara.
“I saw him last summer playing outside of Best Buy, and he was doing that to raise money so he can go to a special music summer camp in 2018,” McChesney said. “I walked over and told him I ran the Park Silly Sunday Market and told him we would love to have him busk at the market. I told him he could open his viola case and collect money while he played.”
McNamamara’s mother called McChesney to verify the offer.
“We were so excited,” McChesney said. “Michael came and played six Sundays in a row and just killed it.”
When the Sunday Market closed for the season, McNamara’s mother called McChesney to see if there were other opportunities for her son to play.
“I told her about the Silly Holiday Bazaar, and Michael is coming and play Christmas music all three days,” McChesney said. “This will be really nice because it’s just him and his viola. And we’re excited to give him a platform to perform.”
As in years past, the Silly Holiday Bazaar will feature free photos with Santa Claus.
“Santa will be with us all day Saturday and Sunday,” McChesney said. “We’ll take the photos, but if people want to post their own photos with Santa on social media, they are welcome to bring their own camera. We’ll provide the Santa and candy canes.”
The bazaar wouldn’t be the event it is if it weren’t for volunteers, McChesney said.
“We have amazing volunteers from Ecker Hill Middle School land Treasure Mountain Junior High,” she said. “They will be our ringing-bell elves when our guests walk in the door.”
The Silly Holiday Bazaar started in 2010 as an opportunity to give Park Silly Sunday Market vendors another opportunity to show and sell their wares, McChesney said.
“It was also started because people who attended the market during the summer began asking us how they could get in touch with the vendors so they could buy Christmas and other holiday gifts,” she said.
In addition, the Silly Holiday Bazaar serves as a fundraiser for the Park Silly Sunday Market. “We’re a nonprofit, but we don’t hold big fundraising galas or auctions,” McChesney said. “We’re also not part of Live PC Give PC. So this is how we raise money.”
While the Holiday Bazaar is a free event for the public to attend, it raises money through a one-time vendor payment of $225.
“That money goes into our operational budget for the summer,” McChesney said.
Last year the vendors had to pay an additional $149 conventional sales license fee to the city, but McChesney and her staff worked with the city this past year to get an ordinance passed so the vendors no longer had to pay that fee.
“Instead, Park Silly will pick up the flat fee this year,” McChesney said.
McChesney hopes people will find unique gifts at this year’s Silly Holiday Bazaar.
“It’s always fun to see what people buy for their friends and families,” she said. “It gets us excited for summer. …our summer applications will be available Dec. 1.”
The Park Silly Holiday Bazaar will be held Friday through Sunday, Dec. 1-3, at the Marriott Park City, 1895 Sidewinder Drive.
Admission is free.
Friday’s hours will run from 5-9 p.m. Saturday’s hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday’s hours will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For information, visit http://www.parksillysundaymarket.com.
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