The holidays are just around the corner and that can entail many shopping days spent sitting in traffic, searching for parking and fighting fellow last-minute shoppers. However, local community groups have worked together to give residents a holiday shopping alternative this year. The Pacific Beach Woman’s Club (PBWC), with the help of the Pacific Beach Town Council (PBTC) and the support of the Pacific Beach Recreation Center, will host the annual Pacific Beach Fall Festival and Craft Fair on Saturday, Nov. 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the recreation center, 1405 Diamond St. An assortment of handcrafted goods will line not only the gym, but also the basketball court outside. After the cancellation of the Pacific Beach Block Party in 2006, the Pacific Beach Woman’s Club (PBWC) decided that it wanted to hold a new fundraiser that would add community spirit to the seaside community. In 2008, it started the Pacific Beach Holiday Craft Fair, which was held at the PBWC building, 1721 Hornblend St. However, the PBWC envisions the event growing into a bigger festival each year and hopes it will attract the attention of shoppers from Pacific Beach, Mission Beach and the San Diego community at large. Intending to grow the fair, organizers of the event approached the PBTC with its plans for the future and its desire to work together on the event. The PBTC thought it sounded like a great idea and was a winning option for everyone involved, including the recreation center, which agreed to host the event. “We have the rec center that will take care of all the food and drinks, and the woman’s club is doing a book sale, bake sale and raffle, and we are taking care of all the vendors,” said PBTC President Rose Galliher. The vendors will include jewelers, crafters, bakers and quilters. There will even be a woman selling homemade tamales. The event will have a bounce-house, balloons and face painters for children. “I want to make it a family day,” Galliher said. The majority of the vendors are from the local area, but some are from as far away as Escondido and Temecula. “Each of the vendors is going to donate a raffle item,” said Jody Ross, president of the PBWC. Raffle tickets will be sold throughout the event for $1 each or $5 for six tickets. Raffle winers will receive items donated by vendors at the fair. The used book sale will take place throughout the day and offer a variety of choices. Ross enjoys seeing all of the shoppers having a good time and is impressed each year with the quality of vendors the event attracts. The goal of the PBWC is that the event will continue to grow, so that it can raise more funds to donate to not only Mission Bay High School, but also Stand Up for Kids, a nonprofit organization that assists homeless teenagers.