Sophomore Lillian Bergeron can remember the buzz of excitement around the Halloween Bazaar when she was younger.

“I remember the anticipation of it and being ready to go,” Bergeron said. “[I loved] dressing up with our friends and just going to all the booths and waiting [for] all the candy.”

The Halloween Bazaar has been a St. Mary’s tradition since 1960. Each year, student-run clubs put together and run their own booths, but this year’s Bazaar came with a change. In the past, the event has taken place on the North Campus where the Early Childhood Center and Lower School are located. However, this year because of construction on the North Campus the Bazaar was held on the South Campus on the field and in the Upper School dining hall.

Holly Hensarling, director of student life, who organized the event, pointed out how challenging holding it on the North Campus this year would have been.

“We didn’t think we had a space [on the South Campus for the Bazaar], but going over there [to the North Campus] proved to be logistically very difficult to get all the stuff over there,” she said. “Plus parking over there isn’t the greatest. So with construction, we were forced to have it over here and forced to rethink it.” 

Having the Bazaar on the South Campus side of the street turned out to be positive, resulting in a permanent change of location.

“I thought it was easier for us to set up,” Hensarling said. “We got a lot of feedback from parents that it was easier for them parking-wise, to pick their kid up, come over here and then go [to the Bazaar].” 

Setting up the booths were the high school students who work at the Bazaar for their clubs, gaining service hours while also meeting younger students.

While many booths stay the same each year like the cake walk, cookie decorating and the haunted house, there are always a few new booths each year. 

This year the STEM club had a slime/pepper experiment, which taught kids about surface tensions and mixing colors. The kids had a q-tip with dish soup which they dipped into a bowl of pepper and glitter. When they dipped the q-tip, it caused the pepper to separate from the glitter and go to the outside of the bowl. The slime showed kids the outcome of mixing certain colors together.

Fourth-grader Aniyah O’Kelley was a fan. When asked about her favorite booth this year, she said, “The slime [booth], where you make your own slime.” 

The cakewalk, put on by the staff of the Carillon, St. Mary’s yearbook, is one of the more popular booths at the Halloween Bazaar. Kids walk around in a circle and freeze on a picture of a yearbook cover when the music stops. One yearbook cover is chosen, and the kid standing on that picture wins a baked good.

Sophomore Addison Cannon remembers when she stayed at the cakewalk for the whole Bazaar in first grade. 

“My parents had to tell me to leave when it was time to go,” Cannon said.

Freshman Lillian Muller also enjoyed the cakewalk when she was younger. 

“Not everyone won a prize and when you were chosen, you felt special,” Muller said.

But the Halloween Bazaar is not all treat. There is always a traditional haunted house created by the seniors that is a feared and anticipated part of the event. Senior Casey Scobey dressed up as a bloody ballerina to scare the participants.  

“[I loved] seeing how much the little kids enjoy it, and as a senior, I feel like everyone looks forward to it,” Scobey said. “It leaves fun memories for the kids who are at St. Mary’s, [and] it’s fun to dress up with my friends.” 

Not only is the Halloween Bazaar fun for students, but it is also Student Council’s only fundraiser, raising around $8,000 to pay for activities throughout the year.

“All that money goes towards everything that we do: Derby Day, cookies in ALAPP, popsicles. It [allows] Winter Formal to be cheap,” Hensarling said.

Another change in the Bazaar since COVID-19 is the price. Now the entry fee is $20 per kid and kids can go to any booth whereas in the years before the pandemic there was a $1 entry fee and then parents bought tickets for their kids to use. Each booth used to charge up to four tickets to play. 

“We didn’t want people exchanging tickets and money,” Hensarling said. “I talked with a little committee of parents, and I had them set the price. They all thought that $20 was on average what they would spend at the Bazaar with all the tickets.”

But for Hensarling the Halloween Bazaar is more than a fundraiser. It helps build community between all grades of St. Mary’s.

“This is really the only time where both campuses come together, where it’s the Upper School, the Middle School, the Lower School and the ECC,” Hensarling said. “I think it’s kind of cool for the Lower School, the ECC and the Middle School to see what you guys [in the Upper School] do and what they have to look forward to.”