Hundreds of Boundary County residents visited the Kootenai Valley Mennonite Church on Nov. 22 for its 22nd annual craft and bake sale, a community-run event that serves to generate money for the Kootenai Valley Mennonite School. 

The sale spanned much of the property, with a butter-making machine set up at ground level and several tables inside a wooden structure labeled “flea market.” Most of the activity, however, took place below ground on the church’s basketball court. 

Though the event ran from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., most of the items donated for the sale had already been purchased by noon and there were empty spaces on tables that were full at the beginning of the day. 

Past the register where food purchases were made, tables were set up for visitors to sit and eat, giving the sale a different feel from a typical farmers market, where shoppers often browse and leave.

Brian Miller, a member of the organizing committee for the third year, spoke about the community effort behind the annual bake and craft sale. 

“Everything’s donation-based,” Miller said. “All the baked goods, our church ladies bake everything and people in the congregation make crafts and donate.” 

“There’s close to 300 people in our congregation and everybody chips in any way we can. It’s a group effort to make this thing happen.” 

Miller said welcoming Boundary County community members to the church is a focus each year. This year, he said between 100 to 200 people lined up outside before the sale’s opening.  

“Our goal is to bring community people in here,” Miller said. “We see lots of people here that we know and we enjoy hosting this as a church.”