McGroarty Arts Center will host its annual Holiday Boutique on SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2011 from 10:00am – 5:00pm. Admission is FREE. This fun and festive community event features local artisans, unique hand-made gifts, live music, a bake sale, and of course the Chili Bowl Sale. The Boutique provides a wonderful opportunity to avoid the mall crowds and do some quality holiday shopping for friends and family right in your own backyard. Vendors will be selling beautiful and unique merchandise: handmade jewelry, local honey, all-natural skin care products, original paintings, art prints, ornaments, candles and more, all at very affordable prices just in time for the holidays.

Jeweler Susan Braig is a Boutique favorite and a returning vendor. She is a cancer survivor who repurposes old pharmaceutical pills, adding them to costume jewelry to create colorful necklaces, pendants, earrings and tiaras that she sells. It's a way to help pay off her medical debt, while initiating a provocative dialog about the cost of healthcare in our society. "Her pieces are wonderful conversation starters," says Claire Knowlton, Executive Director of McGroarty Arts Center, "Everyone wants to know, 'what's that stone in your jewelry?' and when you tell them that it's an Advil, people are shocked. It’s a comment on how healthcare has become a luxury."