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By MACKENZEE SIMMS | Staff Writer

HELENA – With close to 100 different vendors, the Helena High School band celebrated the start of the spring season with their annual Spring Market fundraiser on Saturday, March 9.  From candles and cutting boards to children’s books, vendors displayed their wares proudly as attendees wandered between the booths lining the halls of Helena High School.

According to event organizer Angela Anderson, the Helena High School band received an overwhelming number of vendor applicants during this year’s spring market.

“We sold out so quickly this year,” Anderson said. “We went to online registration this year and we sold out the first week. It sold out the first week in January and then we probably had 30 on a waiting list.”

Anderson shared that there were an estimated 96 vendors at the Spring Market this year after a few vendor cancelations and last minute substitutions. And while this number is a decrease from last year’s 117 vendors, Anderson shared that this was due to vendor request.

“Last year, we had 117 vendors, but we had smaller booth spaces,” Anderson said. “We polled the vendors at the end of the day and asked what are we doing right, what can we do to improve. And overwhelmingly they said please give us more space, so we did that this year. We increased the space to 10 by 10.”

A second poll this year revealed the vendors reactions to the larger booths.

“The vendors were very happy,” Anderson said. “We polled them again this year to again ask what did we do right— where can we improve. Overwhelmingly, they were all very happy about having more space.”

In addition to requesting larger booths, the vendors from last year indicated that they would be willing to pay more for their booths, allowing the HHS band to charge $50 per booth space. With an additional $2 per visitor charged at the door, the HHS band was able to raise more money.

“We made more money than we did last year and that’s the goal ultimately because it’s a fundraiser,” Anderson said.

According to Anderson, the money raised supports the Helena High School band in many ways. The bands incurs various expenses throughout the year from building new props for field shows every year, buying new music and providing students with instruments.

“(The money) goes to all sorts of things,” Anderson said. “There is a constant need to replenish instruments because there are some instruments that are too expensive for kids to purchase individually. The kids don’t buy those, they just rent them.”

Not only does the money raised at the Spring Market go toward the Helena High School band, it also supports other HHS clubs such as the color guard and the majorettes. For example, the color guard travels to competitions with massive mats which can be expensive. The money raised at the Spring Market will alleviate those expenses.

“It just benefits everybody across the board,” Anderson said. “That’s why it’s good to see parents from the musicians and all the visual sections come in and help. The kids come in and help on the day of the event. It’s just great to see it benefit everybody.”

Many of the Spring Market organizers are parents of students at Helena High School, without any experience in event management. For them, the experience can be overwhelming at times, but it is a labor of love.

“It’s kind of overwhelming because I’m just a band mom, but yeah it was really great,” Anderson said. “It was really exciting to think that you have that many people that want to be a part of our event and support our band.”