CORONA DEL MAR TODAY

Junior League’s Christmas Company Launches This Week

The Christmas Company — a 36-year-old Junior League of Orange County tradition founded by a Corona del Mar woman — will be held from Thursday through Sunday at the OC Event & Fair Center.

General admission is $10 for the event, which is the Junior League’s biggest annual fundraiser. More than 90 vendors from throughout the United States and Orange County will sell one-of-kind gifts including clothing, jewelry, children’s toys and books, gourmet foods, stationery and couture for pets. This year’s event’s theme is “A Home-Cooked Holiday.”

Chairman Barbara Bray of Corona del Mar said The Christmas Company was created in 1976 when the Junior League chapter began to find a way to replace its “Coffee Garden” fundraiser that had been held at Sherman Library & Gardens. Bray said the Junior League in Washington, D.C. had held a successful holiday boutique for years, and the local group decided to create its own Orange County version.

“We decided to call our new fundraiser ‘The Christmas Company” since our young children were watching ‘The Electric Company’ on TV and it had a more professional sound,” Bray said in an email. “Christmas Company was a wonderful adventure, and I’m proud to have been a part of such a tremendously successful event that has endured for 35 years.”

This Christmas Company will be held at the OC Fair & Event Center at Fair Drive near the 55 freeway. Tickets are available at the door or online.

Vendors include Thirty-one Bits Design, a business that empowers women to rise above poverty through the sale of jewelry made by women of Northern Uganda; and Latino Folk Art, which offers jewelry made from 925 Silver; Vernice Vita, which offers an eco-friendly three-layer yoga mat with memory foam; and 72 Bark Place, which offers a couture line for dogs including Bark Fifth Avenue canine bow ties. For a complete list of vendors, special events and more, click here.

Funds raised annually by the JLOCC help support the group’s mission of voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving the community.

“This year’s projects include the Second Harvest Food Bank Backpack Program, Crittenton Services Connect Program, Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) Reading Program, Olive Crest Kinship Support Services Program, The Raise Foundation Resources in Motion Program, and the League’s Bear Hugs and Bear Necessities Program, which partners with the Orangewood Children’s Foundation.” according to a statement.

Photo of a shopper from last year’s event taken by Peggy O’Donnell.