There was fun for all ages last Saturday at Centre Greene, where members of the local community gathered for the annual Treats n' Treasures Holiday Bazaar to shop for unique gifts, children's games, crafts and baked goods in preparation for the coming Christmas season.

"We have a lot more crafters this year," said Erica Bloom, a longtime Centre Greene member who helps organize the craft tables at the annual event. She said more space was made available by eliminating the garage sale.

Despite an impending economic crisis, the turnout by pre-Christmas bargain seekers was higher than usual. "I think people are still in the buying mood and there are so many affordable things here," Bloom said.

"We had a fabulous turnout," said Anna Johansson, the centre's executive director. "Lots of really loyal friends came out. Of course, the committee is huge, so they bring all their friends, relatives, neighbours and program participants."

Among the fun things children could do as their parents strolled about the tables laden with handmade goods was to sit and decorate Christmas cookies with an assortment of icings and colourful sprinkles.

For the adults, there was the bake table, Boutique Centre Greene, featuring gift baskets and flowers for the benefit of the centre, and many crafters, including fair trade, from Africa, Mexico, Guatemala and Tibet, as well as local artisans.

Ten Thousand Villages, the highly-successful alternative trading organization that features handmade products from all over the world, had a table. For those prone to headaches, there was a cranial massage expert. The crafters all donated an item for a raffle to raise additional funds for Centre Greene.

Centre Greene's board of directors decided this year that the proceeds would go towards children's activities and children's programming at the centre.

"That covers a lot of child care, a lot of animation and it also covers our sliding scale discount which allows parents to send their kids to Centre Greene on a sliding scale based on an annual income for the family," said Johansson.

"Families can get sliding scale discounts from about 40, 30, 10 per cent off the price, so there really is no reason for them not to come to Centre Greene."