Athens locals and nearby residents traveled to the Fairfield Inn and Suites on East State Street on Saturday to gather holiday gifts and goodies completely free of charge.
Happy Snacking Athens and the Inn co-sponsored a No Spend Holiday Market, filling the hotel lobby with racks of clothing, tables of books and toys donated by locals.
Krista Brewer, Happy Snacking’s owner and chef, said this was her first free market event. Brewer said the holidays can be hard for many people, and wanted to support locals in some way.
“I'm always passionate about helping my community, so I've been doing a lot of that stuff within Happy Snacking lately,” Brewer said. “So I think this is just an extra thing to help the community celebrate the holidays and keep things out of landfills.”
Through these donations, Athens is not only supporting community members but also preventing landfill overflow. In 2023, Ohio landfills received 22.0 million tons of waste, with 13.2 million tons from “residential and commercial” waste.
Happy Snacking was founded in 2022, after Brewer left her former job to pursue cooking. Happy Snacking is a charcuterie business, and Brewer spends her days creating charcuterie boxes in various sizes for any occasion.
Brewer said local businesses and residents donated items, and she brought gift certificates for attendees to try out her charcuterie. The market provided attendees a range of different products, including clothing for all sizes, toys for all ages and household appliances.
Brewer said she hopes the neighborhood will think about buying from large corporations and instead, give items a second life.
“We don't need to be buying stuff on Amazon and we don't need to be buying stuff from Walmart,” Brewer said. “We don't need new things. There's still a lot of life left in things.”
More than 400 people responded to the event post on Facebook, and Brewer said they advertised the holiday market constantly. Melissa Bailes-Jewell, manager at the Inn, said she posted on TikTok about the event and set up an Amazon wish list for people to donate directly from their phones.
“I mean, we just want to share that holiday cheer, and nobody needs to go without, that's the most important thing,” Bailes-Jewell said. “I know everybody is struggling this time of year, and you know, we want to help.”
Bailes-Jewell said before the event started at 2 p.m., the hotel had its annual drive-thru Santa, complete with elves, a Santa and an official letter drop-off station. Attendees took photos with Santa and received a goodie bag.
Kiarah Tibner, a shopper at the No Spend Holiday Market, said she heard about the event from her sister. Tibner said she was looking for clothing for her sisters.
“I think it's very helpful to those who can't afford things so they can get some things for their families so they're happy,” Tibner said.
Bailes-Jewell said the community members really helped with the event and would be glad to partner with Happy Snacking next year.
“Athens County is just absolutely amazing,” Bailes-Jewell said. “I can’t say (it) enough.”
