LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - Crowds of Fort Simpson residents descended on the John Tsetso Memorial Library's Christmas bazaar and book sale even before the event was officially opened.

Holiday shoppers snatched up arts, crafts, foods and other assorted items on Nov. 21 at a speed that far surpassed the time it took vendors to make them. Renalyn Pascua-Matte saw a week's worth of work sell in less than two hours.

Renalyn Pascua-Matte packages up a few of the 600 spring rolls that she made by hand to sell at the John Tsetso Memorial Library's Christmas bazaar and book sale. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

Pascua-Matte came to the bazaar with 600 spring rolls, 150 pork stays, 80 samosas, 18 Vietnamese vermicelli dishes and a lot of rice noodles. When the bazaar came to a close all she had left were some samosas.

"It sold fast," she said.

Pascua-Matte began preparing the ingredients for her dishes a week before.

"It's the cutting that's tedious," said Pascua-Matte, who chopped multitudes of carrots, celery, cabbages, onions and garlic by hand. She spent all of Friday rolling the spring rolls before frying them. Asian food is popular because it has a different taste than the dishes people normally eat, she said.

For shoppers with a sweet tooth, badminton players at the bazaar from Thomas Simpson School had a table filled with cupcakes and brownies. Proceeds from the sales went to raise money for their team.

Sara Amundson and Sherissa Grossetete stayed up until 3 a.m. on Saturday morning to bake and ice six batches of cupcakes. The late-night baking almost came to a sticky end when both teenagers fell asleep with one last batch still baking in the oven.

Amundson's mother found the cupcakes still in the oven later that morning. They were vanilla when they went in but looked like chocolate when they came out, Amundson said.

The girls hurriedly made one last batch to make up for the ones that burned.

"They turned out good," said Grossetete.

Fellow team members Janelle Bruneau and Reannda Cli also slaved away in a kitchen making brownies to sell at the table, but they finished their baking at the comparably reasonable hour of midnight.

A few tables away Pam Olafson and Erin Wyatt had their handiwork including knitted and crocheted hats, scarves, mitts and dishcloths on display.

Most of the items were made during the past two months when Olafson taught Wyatt how to crochet. The scarves and the dishcloths are the easiest to make, said Olafson who kept her hands busy making the items while watching television and during downtimes.

"It's relaxing. It's nice to be able to do something and have a finished product at the end," said Olafson.

There's also a good feeling that comes with seeing people wearing your creations, said Wyatt.

The bazaar was one of the biggest ones the library has held in the past five years, said librarian Lorraine Ocko.

Approximately 30 different vendors had their goods arranged on tables around the Thomas Simpson School's gymnasium. The vendors seemed to be pleased with the turnout, Ocko said.

Over the years the bazaar has become the event that kicks off the Christmas season in the village. It gives residents something to do while the river cuts them off from shopping in large centers, she said.

"People just kind of look forward to it," said Ocko.