Bazaar highlights businesses

Jewelry, soaps, crafts, homemade bread and more from 30 vendors were stockpiled high on tables last Saturday for the bazaar at the Gathering Church.

Over 300 shoppers gathered at the church on Highway 43 to peruse the wares, beginning to check off their holiday wish lists.

Shafter business owner Elizabeth Schull faced the challenge of the pandemic head on. Named after her daughter, Simply Serenity Boutique sells high-end clothing for children, brand-name clothes that are either gently used or brand-new, sold at discount prices.

Schull said that she was having a hard time shopping for her family with the pandemic, and thought that a lot of families were probably facing the same challenges. She decided to take their clothing and other items that she could get and sell them to others for a reasonable price, helping her family, as well as helping others who are looking for clothes for their kids at reasonable prices.

"I was looking for an outlet to make some money during this pandemic and decided on this, to also help out other families who might be looking for clothes for their children at fair prices," said Schull.

Haley Plaza is another Shafter woman with a thriving business, Homemade In A Home. Plaza bakes her own bread and creates her own bread dips from olive oil and different herbs, as well as other goodies. She said that her pumpkin bread has been a very popular one. She also bakes sourdough, jalapeno sourdough, as well as lemon poppy seed bread.

Adrianna Pompa, of Pompa's Small Shop, was at the bazaar selling her creations, which range from soaps to earrings. Pompa creates her own soaps with a variety of ingredients, from mango peach, to mint eucalyptus. There were bars of soap, soap bombs, loofas with soap built into them, along with a variety of handcrafted earrings. She can be found at Pompa's Small Shop on Instagram.