Even though Swine Sweek is months away, fundraising is in full swing as seen by This Little Piggy went to the Market which occurred on Nov. 5. The event, ran by seniors Bridget Nye and Mary Woolston, raised over $3,300 with many small businesses having an opportunity to sell goods for the holidays.

The fundraiser was a craft show with many different items for customers to shop for. There were sweatshirts, puzzles, wreaths and so much more sold by various vendors from all over Oklahoma. 

This wasn’t Nye’s first rodeo in the craft show world. Her family is the founder and coordinator of the Santa Market Craft Show, which helps in the fight against Alzheimer’s. It began in 2010 and has been a charity benefiting Alzheimer’s relief since 2012.

“I wanted to use the skills I have learned over the years with my family in a way to help Swine Week,” Nye said.

It takes months of preparation to pull off an event such as this one. There are many factors to consider, such as reserving the Freshman Academy, setting up vendor applications, managing the vendors and much more. Promotion is also a huge part of running a successful show because if no one knows about it, no one’s going to come shop.

 “My partner Mary and I were the soul people spreading the word about this event,” Nye said, “it takes an insane amount of advertising to make a fundraiser like this happen.”

Leading up to the show, some vendors began to back out last minute. This meant some quick decisions had to be made in order to make sure the event looked the way Nye and Woolston had envisioned it. Vendors were shuffled around in order to fill in as much space as possible. 

“I had to act on my toes about how we were going to continue,” Nye said,  “I couldn’t have an empty spot in the show.”

Another difficult part of the event was the set-up itself. They arrived around seven in the morning in order to help all the vendors set up before the event officially began at nine. 

“It was so cold that day and we were running in and out of the building helping people bring their things in from their cars,” Woolston said.

Nye and Woolston had raised $2,700 during the previous year’s Swine Week and hoped to at least replicate that amount with the This Little Piggy went to the Market. In the end, that goal was realized with $3,300 being raised for Swine Week recipient, Hope House OKC.

“It was an amazing success and I’m so proud of what we accomplished,” Nye said. 

Even putting aside the monetary success, This Little Piggy went to the Market was also a success because it brought many people together for one purpose. 

“It was incredible to see how so many people were able to collaborate for this event,” Woolston said.

With how prosperous the event ended up being, Nye’s mother Megan Nye had many things to say about her daughter.

“I’m so proud of her,” said Megan, “She’s the most go-getter person I’ve ever met, she will find a million different charities she wants to be a part of.”

This Little Piggy went to the Market is just the beginning of Swine Week fundraisers that will be going on around the school to support Hope House OKC. However, it was a perfect start and should help set the tone for this year’s festivities.

Contact Lathan Pearce at [email protected]