Saturday is the first day of Thanksgiving break, but this isn’t any ordinary day at Huntley High School. All of the boys basketball teams practice in the east gym and field house. Typically, the teams would be the only ones in the school, but today is different.

Huntley hosted the annual Leggee Holiday Craft Fair on Nov. 19. The halls were packed with over 130 tables lined on both sides of the main hallway covered with handmade crafts to show off to the community. 

This is the 11th year continuing for this once quaint, almost farmers market-like gathering that started at Leggee Elementary School. The fair needed more space as the years went on, so it was moved to Marlowe Middle School and now it’s almost overflowing at the high school. 

Christina Machary is the head coordinator for this year’s event, pacing back and forth as the line of people trickled in. 

“We had over 1,200 people that came through,” Machary said. 

The crowd’s donations are going towards the Huntley food pantry. The $1 price tag to attend and claiming a raffle ticket for gifts sprawled along a table near the entrance are ways to donate. Volunteer Kassidy Billard sat at one of the tables to pass out tickets along with the prizes from the raffle handed out at the end of the day. 

Freshman Lia Baldimi has attended the fair every year since second grade when she saw a flier in one of the halls of Leggee. This year, she bought a ring at the fair that looks similar to one that she lost. She was intrigued and happy to be reconnected with this small circular piece of metal.

“I just like to look at all of the jewelry,” Baldimi said.  

137 vendors signed up for a spot in the fair on Eventbrite, one of the vendors being Linda K. This was her fourth year attending as a vendor, and she had some returning customers. 

Linda sells hand scrubs, apple butter, and ceramics at her booth. Different, colorful scented scrubs lined the table, and small gold spoons gathered in a cluster to be bagged with the scrub when bought. The apple butter sat at the other end of the table, jarred and sealed off. 

“I’ve always been successful,” Linda said. “So that’s a positive for me.” 

Another successful fair was held at Huntley High School for the community to view the interesting booths, almost filling the entire school with people intrigued by the handmade crafts.