Woodworkings, straw game among unique offerings at St. Robert Bellarmine Bazaar

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“Our parishioners do more and more every year,” Sandy Cerel said Saturday while accepting congratulations on what many people called “the best bazaar ever” at St. Robert Bellarmine Roman Catholic Church in Johnston. “Everyone realizes why we’ve been doing this for 12 years.”

Proceeds from Saturday’s 12th annual Holiday Bazaar will go a long way in filling the shelves of the small St. Robert Bellarmine Food Pantry, which serves all of Johnston.

Although the final figures haven’t been finalized, Cerel feels confident that this year’s donation to the Food Shelf will be the largest one yet.

The main reason was the manner in which Saturday’s edition was presented.

“Almost as soon as people came into this room,” Bill Holtman, a long-time committee volunteer offered, “they used the word ‘wow’ as they looked at the many, many offerings on display as well as the food menu.”

People of all ages also told Cerel and many committee members that, “this has become a must-attend event for people of all ages.”

The multi-use room at St. Robert Bellarmine was decked out in bountiful decorations, and the event featured music provided by Ray Arruda, who served as the emcee and explained many of the day’s offerings to what people concurred was a record-setting crowd.

If you wanted home baked goods, the bazaar had dozens upon dozens of sweet treats – including cakes, cookies, cupcakes, snack breads, wine and pepper biscuits, brownies, muffins and even biscotti – made by dedicated parishioners.

Likewise, the kitchen crew – Michael Latour, Henry Gioilizzi, Bonnie Phillips and Robin DaCosta – served such delectable dishes like sausage and peppers, meatball and eggplant sandwiches along with homemade soup, hot dogs and ziti and broccoli.

There were many vendors offering everything from sports apparel, interesting and useful woodworkings by Louis and Carla Spremulli and the 2019 event’s most unique display – industrial pipe lamps made from scratch by designer Larry Costellese.

There were raffle prizes and as many silent auction items, yet, the one constant that has become incredibly popular and in fact draws people to the bazaar each year is the unique straw game.

“It’s amazing how people flock to the game,” Cerel said. “When we introduced this several years ago, they ran out of straws in less than two hours. No one – not event Pastor Rev. Richard A. Narciso or even Pastor Emeritus Rev. John LaPointe – could have predicted how popular this game would become. Now, the team meets well in advance of the bazaar to roll thousands of straws.”

On Saturday, there were 9,000 straws in a huge cardboard that people purchased for just one dollar in hopes of finding the prize with the corresponding number that along with other parts of Saturday’s extraordinary event.

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