Election day bazaar returns to Garfield - just a little later

A Garfield election day tradition, the Ladies Aid Bazaar which was a part of the election day scene in Garfield for decades, will return this year, just at a later date. The event will be Nov. 7 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Garfield Christian Church.

Sandy Souders, president of the Ladies Aid, said the bazaar has been absent the last few years with the county’ s conversion to all-mail balloting. The change eliminated polling places around the county on election day. The polling places brought people into town and that provided more customers for the traditional bazaar.

Members of the Ladies Aid will sell home-made embroidered, knitted, quilted or crocheted items along with a slew of other household goods.

Proceeds, as tradition has it, fund the funeral dinners the group serves for families of deceased Garfield or Palouse area citizens.

The Garfield Christian Church has had a Ladies Bazaar since shortly after the church was organized in the late 1800s, according to Souders.

“We have a lady here who is 94 years old and her mother is in the picture [of an historic Ladies Bazaar]. So it goes back quite a ways,” Souders said.

A chicken noodle dinner, the signature menu feature of the bazaar, will also be served.

The money the group earns from the bazaar will go directly to the funeral dinner fund.

The members, who number about 20 from Garfield, will sell home-made items, in addition to baked goods, collectible dolls and specialty knives.

“We’re just trying to redo it,” Souders reported.