The women of St. Paul’s have conducted fairs, sales and festivals since the church’s earliest years, and these benefits have played an important part in the financial support of the church. The first recorded fair was in December 1836: a “Ladies Fair at Stanwix Hall for the benefit of St. Paul’s Church,” at a time when the struggling young parish desperately needed that support. Today, we see photographs of a St. Paul’s Christmas Bazaar published in the Society page of the Albany Times-Union for December 4, 1961.

The first photograph shows three women of the parish “as they prepared luncheon for guests at the church.” As was then the custom, the newspaper gives only their husbands’ names; their first names (in brackets) were obtain from other sources.

Christmas Bazaar, December 1961: in the kitchen

Left to right, they were:  Mrs. David Powers [Lucille], Mrs. Shelley Edmundson [Louise], co-chairman of the luncheon, and Mrs. Roger Aiken [Ruth], co-chairman of the Christmas Bazaar.

In the next photo, two women arrange the gifts in Santa’s pack.

Christmas Bazaar, December 1961: Santa’s Pack

They were Mrs. Chas. H. House, Jr. [Merilyn] an Mrs. Harold Green [Maude]

Finally, here is a picture of the gift booth, with Mrs. John N. Grant [Ismena J. Frazer] on the right, assisting Mrs. D. Arthur Leahy [Grete].

Christmas Bazaar, December 1961: the gift booth