The 41st annual Pumpkin Patch Arts and Crafts Fair for the Mercy Regional Health Center Auxiliary will be held Friday and Saturday at CiCo Park. All proceeds from the event will support the center’s special projects and programs.
According to Margie Michal, senior director of the Mercy Foundation, Mercy Auxiliary is a fundraising branch out of Mercy Regional.
“The group is made up of volunteers come together to do fundraising and community awareness in the Manhattan community,” Michal said. “They donated over $100,000 this past year.”
The Pumpkin Patch raises approximately $17,000 annually for the Auxiliary, which donates to the health center through gifts.
“Isn’t that something?” Michal said. “A group of ladies who volunteer that time raised that kind of money.”
For the past nine months, co-chairs Krystal Dekat and Kristin Haney – as well as the rest of the Auxiliary – have worked hard to arrange and manage the vendors and donations for the event. The Pumpkin Patch is host to over 150 vendors selling homemade arts and crafts.
“Everything is handmade or refurbished,” Dekat said. “There are handmade items, from bows for little kids’ hair to furniture that has been redone.”
Among the bows and furniture, fairgoers can find jewelry, caramel popcorn, christmas decorations and many other crafts. Children can even participate in various arts and craft booths throughout the two-day event.
The Mercy Auxiliary Health Center donates food items for sale, in addition to the churches that host a bake sale. With chili and steak soups alongside homemade caramel popcorn, fairgoers can find both sweet and savory options.
The Pumpkin Patch is hosting two live performances this year. According to Dekat, on Friday night at 5:30 p.m. attendees can listen to the music of Michael Greim or stop by Staurday at 12:30 p.m. to listen to singer Lucas Maddy. The muscians will be performing next to the food booths.
After the food is eaten, the performers are gone and the crafts taken home, the Auxiliary members said they wish for the Manhattan community to know what the event’s true purpose is.
“This is a major fundraiser for us,” Hinkin said. “(We try) to have people see the connection between the hospital and the Pumpkin Patch. We want to make the presence known that it is benefiting the hospital.”
