Frequently Asked Questions

With a strong Catholic foundation, rigorous academics, small class sizes, and tons of extracurriculars for all grades (we even have pre-k athletics), St. Joseph Catholic School will be a place of spiritual growth and academic achievement where your child will make life-long friends. We love it! Since you are here, peruse our website to see some of the fantastic offerings we have in academics, athletics, and extracurriculars. The next step would be to contact the school to schedule your visit at 517-546-0090 x200 or school@stjosephhowell.org.

Yes! Let us say it again, YES! Not only is it a great place for your kids to visit with Santa (you can make an appointment so you do not have to wait in a line), but we also have a fun scavenger hunt planned to keep the kids interested and engaged while you walk around.

If he is not hunting, absolutely! We put in a lot of work tracking down vendors that will interest everyone. If he is hunting, chances are you will find a great Christmas gift for him.

Nope. We have an amazing chef at our Christmas Café preparing both traditional concessions foods and some things that might surprise you (don’t worry, we are definitely bringing back our broccoli cheddar bread bowl). We have tables to eat and food that is designed to walk with. And don’t miss the bake sale with fresh, homemade items that are sure to delight and satisfy.

Santa is a popular guy and long lines can amass waiting to see him elsewhere. While walk-ins are allowed, you can make sure you don’t get stuck in a line by making an appointment to see Santa. We will announce the appointment openings on our Facebook Page and here so keep your eye out!

If you want to stay up-to-date on the vendors and the fantastic products they offer, be sure to follow our Facebook Event Page where we will post lists of the vendors and tag them so you can get a sneak peak at the offerings.

The spaces vary in size and amenities (some provide electricity), and there are a few larger, premium location spaces available. However, vendors may purchase as many spaces as needed to fit and display their products. Multiple spaces purchased will be either next to each other length ways (i.e. 16ft x 6ft) or together in the shape of an “L”. You will know the specific configuration at least one week before the event.

See the Vendor Application

We do not have Wifi available but you are welcome to bring personal hotspot devices.

Absolutely not! The space is yours to display your goods however you see fit. We love to see creative ways to show off your wares (thinking of you ladder ladies!). As long as you don’t encroach on the space of the vendors next to you or the aisleways, you are free to configure your space however you like.

Everything you plan to sell & display and everyone who is going to sell & display it. We want to make sure the walkways stay clear so, if you bring a lot of helpers, make sure you plan accordingly as they need to fit in the space too.

While we cannot guarantee a specific number of guests, last year we saw OVER 1,800 shoppers come through our doors. BUT the available parking was full for much of the day causing many people to leave before coming in! This year we fixed that problem by opening up a new parking lot and new entrance for our shoppers. We are also more than doubling our advertising budget in every effort to expose your products to as many people as possible!

We accept most vendors. We allow almost any handmade item you can think of (knit items, candles, tumblers, clothes, artwork, baked goods, and more!). Since each creator is so uniquely talented and varied, we do not limit the number of handmade-item vendors who can sell a specific product type. Small businesses of every variety are equally welcome! We do limit the MLM vendors to only one from each company (check to see if your company is already represented here). What else do we limit? We are a Catholic school so any inappropriate items, including but not limited to, drug paraphernalia and items with profanity are not allowed. Additionally, since this operates as a fundraiser for the school and other parish ministries, we do not accept groups soliciting donations or fundraising.

YES you can! In order to register you will have to pick your spot. Please me mindful if you need electricity, you must purchase a spot that offers that. Once a spot has been resister to a vendor no one else can claim you spot, nor can you change your location.

Please contact us as soon as you know that you cannot attend at holidaybazaar@stjosephhowell.org. We offer a 50% refund until September 1, 2025, at noon. After that all payments are nonrefundable as we cannot guarantee that the space will be filled and it takes valuable volunteer time. Failure to notify the organizer may result in your application being rejected in future years. To ensure fairness to potential wait-lists and to ensure all of the appropriate conditions are met, you may not sell or give away your space. Hundreds of hours of volunteer time goes into making this the premiere Holiday Bazaar in our area. We do not have a full-time staff to navigate the last minute changes so, although it may seem harsh, this will make for a better experience for the other vendors and the shoppers (plus we are known to give some special coupons for the next year to vendors who are courteous enough to warn us ahead of time).

We will open the doors at 6am for the vendors to begin set up. Unfortunately, since the kids are in school on Friday and we need some time to get everything ready for you, we cannot do set up the night before. We highly encourage you to get there early as lines can form at the drop off areas closer to the start since everyone wants to sleep in. We will have coffee and some delicious breakfast items available for purchase to give you the energy for the day.