Boutique Shopping for a Cause

Annual Mountain Country Bazaar Helps Raise Funds for Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital

Story by Rick Stedman

In early November, Dr. A.W. Bridge Guild
again hosts Eatonville’s Mountain Country
Bazaar. The event has been held annually
since 1954.

The guild is part of Mary Bridge
Brigade, a nonprofit organization that has
donated funds and volunteer hours to
support Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in
Tacoma since 1921.

This year’s bazaar is Friday, Nov. 1, and
Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Ohop Mutual Light
Co. office.

“Our bazaar is unique because it is set
up like a store,” event coordinator Sharon
Rosenkranz says. “We call it boutique-style
shopping.”

Unlike other events, vendors do not stay
with their items for sale. Instead, there is
one checkout area with five registers for
shoppers’ convenience.

“Every year, we receive many
compliments on the fantastic shopping
atmosphere we create because of that style,”
Sharon says.

In giving back to benefit Mary Bridge
Brigade, the bazaar offers handmade
goods from more than 60 vendors. There
are items from a large variety of skilled
artisans, including pottery, wood crafts and
metal crafts. There are also handcrafted
items, such as clothing, scarves and hats, as
well as potholders, table runners, rugs and
baby toys.

Creative wares also come in the form of
gourd art, plants, stained glass, gift baskets,
soap and jewelry.

For hungry shoppers, a variety of food
items are for sale, including baked goods,
homemade candy, local honey, jams, jellies
and popcorn.

“The bazaar brings the whole
community together,” says longtime guild
member Mar Elliff.

The beginnings of Mary Bridge
Children’s Hospital can be traced directly
to Eatonville, and specifically to Dr. Albert
Wellington (A.W.) Bridge.

In 1909, with a degree from Vermont
Medical School, Albert moved to
Eatonville to set up his practice. Having
lost his father to a logging accident and
seeing his mother work tirelessly in a
sawmill, Albert was inspired to provide
services to logging camps and lumber
mills.

At the same time, Eatonville was in need
of a doctor, and T.C. Van Eaton offered to
build Albert a clinic if he’d set up shop in
Eatonville.

Albert not only served the logging
communities in and around Eatonville, but
also traveled out to farms—first by horse
and buggy and then by car—to deliver
babies and care for the sick and injured.
Even with this busy schedule, he served as
Eatonville’s mayor in 1919.

When Albert died in 1949, he left a
half-million dollars, equivalent to $4.5
million in today’s dollars. He specified that
all the money was to be used for a group
or hospital to serve children. The only
stipulation: The medical facility had to be
named after his mother and inspiration,
Mary Bridge.                                                        

The doctor’s footprint is still evident in
Eatonville. He had an office above Kirk’s
Pharmacy. His home is now Cruiser Café.
He also had a practice in the old Eatonville
hospital, which is now a residence across
from Eatonville High School.

According to the Mary Bridge Brigade
website, long before Mary Bridge
Children’s Hospital opened its doors,
a group of women known as Tacoma
Orthopedic Association, now Mary
Bridge Brigade, opened their hearts to
the children of their community. This
volunteer organization was the driving
force behind the establishment of
MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital
and Health Network.

Since 1921, Mary Bridge Brigade has
donated more than $50 million and
countless volunteer hours to support health
and healing for children at Mary Bridge.
This November, the Mountain Country
Bazaar hopes to continue adding to that
total.

“We do it for the kids,” Mar says.
“Giving back is the goal, and we, as a small
guild, try our best to do just that.”