AUSTINBURG TOWNSHIP — The gifts Annette Paul and other Zonta International members will peddle this weekend don’t require batteries, a computer or $3,000 entertainment system to enjoy.
Many of them help the planet by using recycled or natural materials, and their sale will give hope and sustenance to the third-world artisans who made the items.
A local holiday shopping tradition, the annual International Fair is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, with an encore at the same times on Nov. 21 and 22.
Vicki Lubin, manager of the One World Shop in Rocky River, which supplies much of the inventory, said Austinburg’s town hall will be stuffed with about $24,000 in merchandise when the doors open Saturday morning.
This year’s event marks a transition in sponsorship. Ten years ago, John and Rita Linehan revived the sale after a decade of dormancy. It was started by Austinburg First United Church of Christ in the 1960s and operated by that group for 20 years. When the Linehan’s daughter, Molly, went to El Salvador on mission work, she saw how the opportunity to make and sell crafts gave Third World people hope and sustenance. Working with her parents, they revived the fair with items produced in El Salvador. In subsequent years the effort evolved to include to goods from 30 nations and rang up sales of up to $22,000 for the two weekends.
Rita Linehan said Molly is studying in Washington, D.C., and the family decided to hand off the project to another group while it was viable and successful.
“We feel we are handing it off to good hands,” Rita Linehan said.
She and John will continue to volunteer with the project, as will other groups that have helped in the past: The Ashtabula County Junior Fair Board, Ss. John and Paul High School, and the Geneva and Jefferson high schools Honor Societies.
Zonta International of the Ashtabula Area has about 30 members, says Paul, who is chairing the event. She says the fair is a great fit for the group and its mission.
“We’re a women’s service organization and (the fair) helps empower women all over the world,” she said.
Zonta is not taking a profit from the sales. “This is a service project and the money goes for the people who make the product,” Paul said.
All of the merchandise is fair-traded. Lubin said that means the worker is paid a fair wage for the work, receives 50 percent of payment when the item is consigned and the balance when it is sold.
“It’s the opposite of a sweat shop,” she said.
The merchandise is selected by Lubin with input from Paul and three other Zonta members. Paul said they wanted to expand the fair’s boutique section this year and have added more jewelry and accessories to the mix.
There’s also an emphasis on items made from recycled items, including shopping bags and purses from juice and rice bags, picture frames from newsprint, bowls from magazine pages and lanterns from tin cans.
Prices range from $2 for painted rocks and $4 for simple ornaments to $115 for a wall tapestry.
Paul says they will accept Visa, Mastercard, checks and cash. Zonta is selling soup as a fundraiser for its organization, and the Austinburg First United Church of Christ will offer brewed free-traded coffee and cookies for a donation. That money will go to outreach work in El Salvador.
The township hall is located 2794 Route 307 East.
