Savvy Botetourt shoppers know to save the date for the Historic Fincastle Holiday Marketplace coming Saturday Dec. 8. You can start and finish your holiday shopping in one place. And purchase tickets for the Holiday Home Tour that runs that day from 10 a.m. till 4 p.m.

Vendors from around the region and Botetourt will proudly display and sell their works starting at 9:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. Forty vendors, including 18 new ones for this year’s sale, have been vetted by experienced shoppers to bring only the best of the area’s offerings of handmade candles, ornaments, frames, note cards, dolls, boxes, pottery, turned wood creations, brooms, gourds, nativity scenes, soft sculptures, walking sticks, jewelry, purses, ice skates, slippers, paintings, prints, soaps, Santas and pickles. Food items, too, include the perennial favorite, Lisa Helmick’s ready-to-bake chicken and sweet pies.

“It would take you days of driving and looking to find such an assortment of high quality items,” says Melodye Hollingsworth, sale organizer. Important pluses include free admission to the marketplace, and ample free parking at the site, the Fincastle Baptist Church, just outside the town of Fincastle at 7330 Roanoke Road (Route 220). And you can purchase lunch supplied by Leonardo’s right there. From 9 a.m. onward, you can purchase tickets to the Holiday Home Tour, $15 for the public, $12 for HFI members. Homes open at 10 a.m. The marketplace closes at 3 p.m., the homes are open until 4.

Proceeds from the marketplace and tour support the important historic restoration work of Historic Fincastle.

– Submitted by Priscilla Richardson