Holiday cheer comes to CBTech

MOSES LAKE — It got as low as 9 degrees Fahrenheit at the Grant County International Airport early Saturday morning, according to data from the National Weather Service. Which means that winter is well and truly here, even if it doesn’t officially arrive for another month. That also means the first of the area’s indoor seasonal markets have arrived too, with the P.E.O. Sisterhood’s Holiday Bazaar at the Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center kicking off cold-weather shopping refuge and a chance for anyone with something to sell — caramel popcorn, beeswax candles, leather bags and purses, assorted Christmas tchotchkes, abandoned art altered to include Bigfoot — the chance to get out of the cold and find some customers. “This is one of our big fundraisers for the year,” said Brittany Courtright, a P.E.O. Sisterhood member and one of the organizers of this year’s bazaar. “We collect our vendors and they come in and we give them a place to sell their goods.” The Des Moines, Iowa-based P.E.O. — Philanthropic Educational Organization — was founded in 1869 to help provide scholarship and support to young women across the world, according to the organization’s web page. Courtright said all of the proceeds from the bazaar, which includes a bake sale and a soup lunch, will go for local scholarships to high school students and women studying at Big Bend Community College. The organization also has an emergency fund, Courtright added. “We are a women’s Christian sorority,” she added. “All of this goes directly back into scholarships.”