The Historic Catasauqua Preservation Association’s first attempt at a Christmas shoppe at the Biery House, 8 Race St., was hugely successful, and it’s easy to understand why. The combination of a historical venue, Victorian ambience and beautiful handmade wares, coupled with food and a photo op with Santa in an authentic sleigh, is more than most people can resist this time of year.

It didn’t happen by itself. It took an incredible amount of work by a dedicated group of people to make the event a reality.

It all started with an idea that blossomed from the success of the Victorian tea party/pop-up shoppe held at the Public Library of Catasauqua in late June 2023. Betsy Hillenbrand, president and spokesperson of the HCPA, explained the group decided not to do its traditional Fest O’ Fall since it had been moved off the Biery House grounds. It had become too labor-intensive.

“We had to do something to earn money,” Hillenbrand said. “So I said, ‘Why don’t we do a pop up here at the Biery House for the holidays,’ and foolishly, I said, ‘We’ll do it for four weeks!’”

The event ran weekends Nov. 25-Dec. 17, 2023.

At the end of August, when it became clear they weren’t going to do the fall event, Hillenbrand put a call out to Bill Nothstein, who runs the Mrs. Nothstein’s Helping Hands Fund charity. She wanted to make sure HCPA’s plans wouldn’t conflict with anything he was doing, knowing he always holds a holiday event at St. John Fisher Catholic Church.

It turned out Nothstein wasn’t holding the event this year and offered up his vendor list and displays.

“Of course, I asked if he wanted to help, and he was gracious enough to hop on board,” Hillenbrand said.

This was a boon for HCPA because Nothstein reportedly did the decorating, set up the displays, helped clean out the barns, cleaned up the sleigh and even dressed as Santa. He also provided about half of the vendors. The rest were artists Hillenbrand culled from craft events she attended.

“Bill had advised us to cap it at 30 vendors, but of course, we had to have more,” Hillenbrand said. “In the end, I was actually having to turn them away.”

Starting in September, a small team of core group members and dedicated volunteers cleaned out the mule barn and summer kitchen, which had, up until then, been used only for storage. They weeded the grounds, threw away trash and worked three to four days a week to do all the things that needed to be done to be ready for opening.

As anyone who stopped by the event would know, the result was impressive.

“We’ve had some incredible feedback,” Hillenbrand said. “Some people were just blown away by the quality of the vendors that we got in and the venue itself. Many people said it was better than Christkindlmarkt, and people who routinely shop in Bucks County thought it was wonderful. It made us very proud of what we did.”

HCPA ended up being able to raise $6,000, which will be used to keep the organization afloat. Some of those funds are already earmarked for next year’s holiday shoppe.

The event will return next year with a new twist. The new Christmas shoppe will be held in partnership with Mrs. Nothstein’s Helping Hands Fund and will feature more food items, such as the charity’s signature filling, pierogies and apple dumplings.

“It’s a partnership made in heaven because we definitely couldn’t have done this without Bill’s input,” Hillenbrand said.

If you would like to volunteer with HCPA, email Hillenbrand or Janice Lathrop at historiccatasauqua@gmail.com.