Various vendors spring forth for bazaar in Salem

By D.a. Wilkinson

SALEM — Today is the big day at the bazaar.

People who work or who have children may not have made it Friday to the first day of the Salem Memorial Building Association’s spring bazaar.

Dolores Rogucki, supervisor of the building, said it is the 41st annual spring bazaar and the first of three bazaars the association has every year.

“Each one is different,” she said.

The spring event will raise about $800 for the association, which is a nonprofit organization.

The vendors are in the building’s gym while people can eat upstairs, which will also benefit the association.

Rogucki said attendance was about par for the course.

“We’re happy with what we have. I think we’ll do well,” she said.

Vendors described business as ranging from a little bit slow to very good.

The show was also a kickoff for many vendors who will spend the next months setting up at similar shows. And the wares on display catered to men, women and children.

Jerry Robison of Cortland was displaying classy pens and tools that were in part made with exotic woods.

“They’re all handmade. Ninety percent of the wood is imported,” Robison said.

Each takes 21‚Ñ2 to 31‚Ñ2 hours to make.

It was his first year at the Salem bazaar. He normally sets up at events in Trumbull County.

Robison said he got into manufacturing the items after he retired and his son suggested he get a hobby.

Robison said he had noted a downturn in the economy starting at shows late last fall.

Pam Hammell of Salem was making and selling handmade jewelry. She said it was her second time at the show.

She makes her own designs that incorporate gold and silver plate wire and beads. Another item was a choker made of tiny glass beads.

Kathleen Dice of Hubbard was hand-painting marble eggs. She also regularly decorates lampshades, dishes and vases with her fine art.

She said she had been in the business for five years. She regularly sets up at the Hartville Marketplace and Flea Market and said she will soon be exhibiting her wares at a festival at Tower City in Cleveland.

Carolyn Latronica of New Middletown was selling the books everyone can use: books for children and adults.

As a mother of three children, she knew the need for a steady supply of books. Instead of having a gathering at her home to sell plastic ware, she has book parties.

“The children’s books are the best,” she said.

It was the first time she set up at a craft show.

Latronica said, “It’s doing really, really well.”

wilkinson@vindy.com