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."

If you get hungry, don’t miss the Chili Bowl Sale! For $10, you get fresh, homemade chili served to you in a one-of-a-kind ceramic bowl, handmade by our ceramics department. Not only do you get to keep the bowl, but you may fill it with any one of the dozens of varieties of chili available. One crowd favorite is Bosco’s Stagecoach Chili, made with chili peppers that the Bosco family grows, harvests, and cans. For those craving something exotic, be sure to sample the Ramage family’s ‘Roo Stew! There will also be ample varieties of vegetarian and vegan chili, and meaty chilis representing a wide range of ingredients and flavor profiles. You’ll definitely want to come back for second helpings.

The Holiday Boutique is also a wonderful opportunity explore the beauty of the historic McGroarty home, which will be decked out in elaborate, charming holiday decorations. With its nostalgic holiday décor, the McGroarty home exudes a warm, welcoming, holiday kind of feeling that everyone in the family will enjoy.

McGroarty Arts Center is located in the Sunland-Tujunga community, just off of the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Plainview Avenue. In addition to events, festivals, concerts and exhibits, McGroarty Arts Center offers affordable art instruction for children and adults in visual and performing arts, music, and ceramics.

The Center is run by a 501(c)3 nonprofit in partnership with the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs. Programs at McGroarty Arts Center are funded by the California Community Foundation, Ahmanson Foundation, Annenberg Foundation, Green Foundation, Weingart Foundation, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission and Experience LA, California Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts, and the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles. The Holiday Boutique is free and open to the public. Proceeds from this fundraiser support programs at McGroarty Arts Center.