Chengdu International Club 2016 Holiday Bazaar Recap

The Chengdu International Club’s 2016 Holiday Bazaar was a great success. Held on November 19^th at Chengdu International School for one day only, the numbers were astounding. We had over 100 vendors, over 3000 attendees, and raised over 280,000 RMB for charity!

Thanks to our media partner, www.chengdu-expat.com, there were so many people that most of the food vendors sold out of food before the end of the day. Overall, vendors had a brisk day of business and most didn’t even need to bring their cars back in at the end of the day to pack up since there was so little to take back home. The CIC book sale and craft sale were popular, as expected, with the CIC craft sale selling out completely as the food vendors did.      

We had a full day’s schedule of performances on the stage organized by our event partner, UrTurn Events, we. Some highlights were the ballerinas from Goldenotes in their pink tutus, the little bit country, little bit rock n’ roll band White Rice in their Christmas sweaters, and a lively Sichuan face-changing performance by an artist in traditional Sichuan opera costume.

A big shoutout goes to the consuls general of the Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, Poland, and the United States. In support of the community and a spirit of fun, they took it upon themselves to get up on stage for a blind taste test of beers representing each of their countries. Hosted by Dieter from the The Beer Nest, each CG tried each of the beers until he or she arrived at a conclusion. They know their stuff, because each of them chose the right beer.

At the Silent Auction, as usual, the last half hour was fast and furious as bidders scrambled to get in their bids for coveted items generously donated from a wide variety of sponsors. We had hotel vouchers, wines from around the world, gift baskets, F&B vouchers, works of art, and more. The last minute madness was great for the charities as we saw lots of final bids that were much closer to the actual retail value of items than in previous years.

The littlest members of the Chengdu scene were not to be left out of the day’s festivities. Student teams from GreatChina International Education, and representatives from Adventure Access and ADI Sports kept the kids’ games areas hopping all day long. Smiles were all around as kids of all ages did their best to win at each of the games to collect fun prizes. Santa also stopped by for most of the day to take pictures with the little ones—and some big ones too.

And of course, none of this would have been possible without the help of our tireless volunteers who spent hours of their free time on a Saturday keeping things going smoothly. From helping with setup and tear-down, directing traffic, selling tickets, answering questions, shuttling money back and forth from the Committee treasury, and just about anything else you can think of, our volunteers were great examples of community-mindedness and holiday spirit.

Head on over to www.chengdu-expat.com’s events listings in the next few weeks for news about our giving ceremony in January. We’ll invite representatives of each of this year’s charities to come and show us a little bit about how they’ll use their donations and toast the wonderful community that comes together each year for such great causes. Come celebrate with us.

BIG THANKS to this year’s sponsors:

It’s never too early to think about next year. We will still need sponsors, committee members, and volunteers. To find out more about the Bazaar and the Chengdu International Club in general, feel free to drop us a line at chengduiwc@gmail.com. We have various activities throughout the year you are welcome to join!