The non-profit Dysart Development Corporation (DDC) will host the community’s 50th annual Dysart Bazaar and Holiday Market on Saturday, Nov. 13.

Open to the public at no charge, the event features a wide variety of artists selling their exclusive handmade crafts and homemade baked goods at the handicapped-accessible Dysart Community Building (418 Main St.), from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The event returns to its traditional second Saturday in November festivities, after a hiatus in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Dysart Development Corporation is proud to again welcome visitors to this popular holiday event, to make Christmas shopping easy and to prepare for Thanksgiving get-togethers,” DDC President Rhonda Lassen said. “Take in the Dysart Bazaar and Holiday Market, then take in the unique shops downtown, to make a day of it in Dysart, and invite your friends and family to join you.”

Shoppers can select from a variety of original, handmade art, ranging from seasonal Santas, snowmen, and angels to stylish home décor, jewelry, accessories and more.

New this year are concessions available from volunteers raising funds for Dysart’s Little Knights Daycare Dysart campus. Breakfast and lunch items including the event’s famous turkey pasta salad, and more will be served, with proceeds benefiting the spacious new community daycare center building that opened in Dysart in 2021.

Dysart’s La Maison Women’s Club started the popular holiday event, succeeded by the Fine Arts Women’s Club, and later volunteer leaders representing the Dysart Development Corporation, Dwayne Luze and Don Lyons. Lyons retired from the role when his longtime co-chair, Luze, passed away April 1.

That’s when DDC Chair Rhonda Lassen, together with cards crafter Tammy Freemon, of Dysart, and Dysart native and artist Kathy Krafka Harkema, teamed up to volunteer coordinate the event and host this year’s festivities.

Only a few vendor spaces remain, so anyone interested in applying to sell handmade goods may email their request to, or request an application by mail at: dysartdev@gmail.com. Exhibitors pay $35 per space, with proceeds from the event benefiting scholarships for La Porte City and Dysart area Union high school students.

Those wishing to volunteer to help with event preparation and day-of-festivities can email dysartdev@gmail.com, and include their name, contact phone number and email. Volunteers are needed to assist with event set-up November 12, and to help support event coordination November 13, including assisting exhibitors with unloading, loading, and greeting visitors.

For more information about the Dysart Development Corporation, visit: https://www.discoverdysart.org.