Dozens of crafters and home party vendors will convene at Milford School on Nov. 17 to provide shoppers with a convenient way to get started on that holiday shopping list.

Nancy Levernier and Barb Barth, both of Milford, and their sister, Laurie Dilley of Goshen, have been organizing the local event since it began in 2008. Each year more vendors and shoppers both attend, Levernier said.

The Milford Community Bazaar originally came together because the three wanted to offer their artfully talented neighbors a chance to sell their work. “We also thought it would be a way to help the food pantry,” Levernier added.

Again this year, shoppers will be asked to bring to the bazaar canned or nonperishable food items. Those items will be donated to the Milford Food Pantry, along with at least half of the proceeds that come from table rental, Levernier said.

Among the popular gift items and holiday decor that will return for the 2012 Milford Community Bazaar are handmade Christmas wreaths, trees and decorated ladders; crocheted items; glass works; and carved wooden utensils and furniture.

Tobias Popcorn of Nappanee will have kettle corn for sale, and home party names like Pampered Chef, Tupperware and Thirty-one Gifts will be there as well. A number of jewelry makers are signed up to display and sell their wares, and St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Warsaw and First Presbyterian Church of Winona Lake is coming with gourmet peanut brittle, Levernier said.

As a special treat, Debbie Beer’s famous decorated sugar cookies will be on hand too.

Milford Helping Hands 4-H Club plans to feed hungry shoppers with rolls, juice and coffee, all of which will be for sale in the morning. Sloppy joes, hot dogs and baked goods will be ready to go around lunchtime.

New Market in Syracuse donated four turkeys to the Milford Community Bazaar again this year. The birds will be given away via a drawing from among the names of shoppers who bring donations for the food pantry. You do not have to be present to win.

Shoppers should enter through the gymnasium doors of Milford School, 611 W. Emeline St., Milford. Hours for the bazaar are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.