Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church will have its third vintage and lagniappe sale Saturday.
Beginning at 2 p.m. the church will have a two-hour sale of vintage articles of clothing and antique items, along with art.
“We have a lot of talented people at our parish, and that’s where it all started,” said Alice Barth, one organizer.
Barth, along with Susan and Nancy Ehret, Mary Jane Faulkner, Glenda Grossman, Claudia Henson and many others have been the driving forces behind the project.
The church had its first sale four years ago. The first year, the sale was focused mainly on the art pieces that many of the parishioners donated. The second year, the church sought to expand but had to figure out how.
“We had a lot of older members, and we asked them, ‘What have you got?’ and they’d go and dig,” Susan Ehret said.
“They came out with so many treasures,” Mary Jane Faulkner said. “We had to have a sale.”
This year the sale is more focused on the vintage end with a little art and rummage sale thrown in.
Susan Sheridan will have a table with her handmade pottery. Barth will also have a place for her paintings, and Bill Hony will showcase his earth artwork.
There will also be a table for families of the church to do a little spring cleaning and see what they can sell.
“We wanted everyone to feel a part of this event whether they were an artist or not,” Faulkner said. “That’s why we expanded it.”
Ten percent of the profits will go back into the church for the wants and needs committee to designate to a project. A few in the running are an update to the church’s library, new kneeling pads in the church and a new sign for outside.
With the prices anywhere from $1 to $7, the women hope the hours they spent pricing everything will help them beat last year’s record of $1,200 in sales.
The women will happily tell you a story of a dress or how the blown-glass perfume bottles came from Italy. They may not know all the stories, but they are well aware of the treasures they have, according to Faulkner.
“Everyone has their own treasure to find here,” Susan Ehret said.
Even the organizers have found a treasure or two in past years, thanks to the many donations and items brought in, some through moving sales and others gifted or willed.
“We are keeping a piece of this church alive by passing our treasures on,” Nancy Ehret said. “We continue to live through those vintage treasures as they light up in someone else’s eyes.”
•Contact Laura Kay Prosser at 581-7233 or lprosser@gwcommonwealth.com
