A Crockett Christmas completed its third year on Saturday, November16 at Maury City Elementary School.
The shopping event started with an idea by local business owner, Hannah East. She missed the experience of shopping with multiple vendors in one location during the holiday and decided to start a tradition that could be carried on to benefit the community as well as give area shoppers a chance to help locally.
“When I decided to head this up, I knew that the money had to go somewhere,” said East. “We decided that each year, we’d do an online vote to determine which county non profit received the funds.
The first year, the event allowed for a $2,000 donation with 18 vendors, the second year was $5,000 and this year the event more than doubled in growth with 55 vendors and $11,000 being donated.
“Before Stella Gibson died in February, I told her we’d raise $7,000 for her this year. She told me I could do better than that, and boy did we. I really feel like Stella was shining down on this event this year,” said East.
Vendors sold items such as childrens books, clothing, jewelry, wall décor, cookware, soaps, baked goods, home storage, purses, plants, accessories, hand crafts, make-up, skincare, candles, Christmas gear and Cavalier gear.
Santa was also around throughout the day for pictures with the little ones.
The events main drawing item this year was a three-night trip to Gatlinburg in a cabin called Hope’s Haven, donated by Marcie Arnold and her son. The three-night stay is valued at $675 and tickets sold for $10 each.
On Sunday, November 17, East drew Joy Cruses’ name from a box as the winner on Facebook live. Approximately an hour later, East returned live on Facebook to give away two additional three-night getaways where Jennifer McCall and Tammy Wiards’ names were drawn to also win.
The $11,000 donation will go to Crockett County Neighbors Offering Assistance and Hope (NOAH).
NOAH is an organization that assists residents of Crockett County who have experienced a catastrophic illness or event.
