BY JEFF B. FLINN Managing Editor
After 10 years, Beth Legge was happy to host the Boerne Holiday Market for her last time. More than 70 vendors were packed inside the Cana Ballroom at St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church on Saturday, selling nothing but homemade goods.
“There’s a little bit of everything. There’s jewelry baskets, paintings, macrame, dolls, purses, just everything. And it’s all handmade,’ Legge said. Legge has been handling all aspects of the Holiday Market for 10 of its 11 years.
“It’s just me. I work on it for six months,” she said. “I do all the marketing for it, organize the jurists and go through the applications and layout. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun.”
Shopper Roberta Phillips of Boerne said she’s been to just about every market except for last spring, the market being held twice a year.
“I bought some candles,” Phillips said. Her 5-year-old daughter, Daelynn, “got a handmade doll that looks like Taylor Swift.”
Further proving Legge’s slogan of “There’s something for everyone” was shopper Heidi Diaz of San Antonio. Walking through the market, Diaz had about six or seven bags in her hands and hanging from her forearm.
“I got some candles, I got a print, I have some earrings,” Diaz said. “I am trying to get some gifts for my bridesmaids” for her Dec. 2 wedding.
This was her second trip to the Holiday Market after a friend, who is a vendor, invited her out.
“She actually pointed out a couple of other vendors who she thinks I would like, so I am buying stuff from them,” Diaz added.
A number of vendors were returnees from previous markets. Legge said about 150 vendors will apply for the 70-or-so market spots.
“I have a jury of people that I (assemble for) each market. They review the applications,” she said. “We have an 8 percent cap of ‘like’ items so there won’t be more than, say, six jewelry booths.”
The jurists review the products, the vendor booth layout, and then pick their favorites. Legge says she tallies the results and sends out acceptance emails about a month after applications close.
One new vendor this year was an artist out of Austin.
“We have a new vendor, ‘Works Of A Quirk,’ by Alex Quirk. She’s doing live paintings all day, which is fun to watch. It’s so cool,” Legge said.
The markets, particularly the Christmas markets, always draw well. Legge said she expected about 800 people to flow through the market during the day.
“We had 350 people by 9:45 a.m. because we ran out of shopping bags. So it’s been a busy day,” she added.
Legge is backing away so she can spend more time with her family. One of the individuals taking over is Tiffany Phillips, a Boerne native and Boerne High School grad.
“I’m a biochemist and I make all-natural products,” Phillips said from her Simply Tiff’s booth.
Her biggest products are her blemish bars and her goatmilk lotions.
“ The blemish bar is extremely helpful with acne, especially for some teenagers and even adults,” Phillips said. “I have clients that came back this market and said I changed their children’s lives” through use of the acne reduction and elimination product.
In her fourth or fifth year at the market, Phillips has agreed to take the reins from Legge. She and friend Sarah Wilburn will be the market marketers next year, she said.
“I think it was just an opportunity,” Phillips said. “We love Boerne. We are both from here and we just wanted to see the market continue, filled with integrity and all the things people have grown to love about it.”
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