Palmyra High School’s Band Boosters hold their annual craft fair to support the music program
Stephen Finn
The Sun
Palmyra High School’s gymnasium was abuzz with activity on Saturday, Dec. 1. The room was filled with local artists and crafters, all with something unique to offer residents looking for some early holiday shopping at the 38th annual Palmyra High School Band Boosters Craft Fair.
“The Band Boosters is a group of awesome parents that just want to work for their kids and want to see their kids succeed and help out wherever we can with the music program,” said Band Boosters member and craft fair organizer Roselyn Colon.
Colon is new to the organization, her son is a freshman at Palmyra High School who plays bass drum in the band. She heard about the need for someone to help organize the event this year and stepped up. She was grateful to all of the volunteers, including students in the school’s band, who helped her pull it off.
“Tons of the band parents and band kids (helped). The band kids actually helped all of the vendors come in, they met them out in the parking lot and brought all their stuff in for them,” said Colon.
The fair offered an opportunity for shoppers to find a unique gift for the holidays. Band Boosters treasurer Kim Gillespie saw the event not only as a fundraiser for the band, but a chance to highlight local, small business.
“I think the wonderful thing about doing these craft shows is that these aren’t highly manufactured products, this isn’t big business, this is small business, this is local business,” said Gillespie. “We’ve been trying to keep it in the community, even our food sales were all purchased in the community. I think that’s a big part of it, being able to provide the community with a way to see some unique things, keep money in our small businesses and provide them with a good product.”
A perfect example was the father and son team of Riverton residents Frank and Trevor Breece, who were promoting a business they run out of their home, Soap Bar and Co. The idea for their homemade soap company came from a deal struck between Frank and his son.
Trevor was apprehensive about attending a Boy Scout camp outing one summer, so Frank agreed that if his son completed the trip he would buy him a melt and pour soap kit that he had his eye on. After an unsuccessful first attempt at soap making, they purchased another, more advanced kit and were much more pleased with the result.
“We do a lot of family camping and we started selling this (soap) out of our camper and made $200. I was like ‘Dude, why don’t you take $100 of that and let’s buy more soap,’ and that’s how it all started,” said Frank.
A portion of Soap Bar and Co.’s proceeds from the fair will go toward the Palmyra Players, a theater club that Frank’s daughter is a member of.
“We have to give back to the community because the community gave to us,” said Frank.
What started as a fun craft turned into a brand as well as an activity the two could do together as family. The results were most surprising to Trevor, now one of Palmyra’s youngest businessmen.
“I didn’t know we were going to get this far, I wasn’t expecting it,” said Trevor.
For more information on the Band Boosters or to find out how you can support the group, contact Colon at palmyrabandboosters@gmail.com.
