Christmas Fest next week Wednesday

The Odessa Community Center will be filled with vendors next Wednesday, December 2, for the annual kickoff to the local holiday shopping season, Christmas Fest. The doors will open at 10 a.m. and will stay open all day until 7 p.m.

Handcrafted items that will be for sale include blankets, crocheted towels, wooden ornaments, LED angels, hooded bath towels, earrings, ornaments, miscellaneous crocheted and handsewn items, wooden decorations, aprons, Christmas decor, knitted hats, scarves and baby clothes, Christmas accessories, gemstone and beaded jewelry, purses, wallets, gloves, hair accessories, jewelry, animal hats, table covers, snowmen, doll clothes (for large dolls such as American Girl, for example), jackets, pictures painted on agate, agate jewelry, photographs, metal wall art, metal signs, poinsettias (grown and nurtured by Odessa FFA students).

Direct-marketing items manufactured by larger companies and sold by local dealers will include Premier Designs jewelry, 31 bags and other products, Seasons of the Home decor, Park Lane jewelry and Miche purses.

Edibles that will be available include Grannie BarBar’s baked goods, Bev Russel’s jams and jellies, butterbraids being sold by the Odessa Parent/Teacher Organization, kettle corn sold by Justin Parr, lattes and smoothies from Crab Creek Coffee Haus, pie by the slice sold by the Old Town Hall Rejuvenation Society and hamburger lunches and boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts being sold by the Junior Livestock 4-H Club. The Odessa-Harrington Athletic Booster Club will have a table set up for ordering boxes of citrus (California oranges and/or Texas grapefruit) which will arrive in town prior to Christmas.

Girl Scout Troop #3362 is sponsoring pictures with Santa Claus, and plans are to offer two separate sessions, one sometime during the morning and another in the late afternoon or early evening. The Girl Scouts will also be selling homemade baked goods and personalized signs to the public.

Schmidt Insurance, Inc. will once again sponsor the Tree of Sharing, with ornaments on the tree representing those in need who might not otherwise receive Christmas presents this year. After Christmas Fest, the tree will be moved to the office of Schmidt Insurance, where the gifts will be collected prior to distribution. The Odessa EMT group will have gift items and will donate the proceeds from their table to the Tree of Sharing.