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<p>What&#8217;s more of a tradition in NEPA than an annual church bazaar?</p><p>They&#8217;ve evolved over the years, of course, to include new foods and full-band performances.</p><p>Even with so many church consolidations happening in recent years, you can still go into most neighborhoods and find a bazaar.</p><p>On Thursday night I attended the opening of St. Nicholas Parish&#8217;s annual summer bazaar where Mexican and Caribbean foods were on the menu in addition to the ever-popular and traditional piggies (a personal favorite), haluski, pierogies, sausage and peppers and pizza.</p><p>I&#8217;ve attended that bazaar for 17 years.</p><p>Eek.</p><p>It feels like just yesterday I was a freshman at Bishop Hoban High School. As such, it was a requirement to attend St. Nick&#8217;s bazaar, where everybody &#8211; and I mean everybody &#8211; was hanging out for a full weekend near the end of July.</p><p>You see the same great people every year.</p><p>There are the loyal families running the stands, like Mark and Delphine Torbik, Robert and Anna Marie Davison and George and Chris Bedwick, to name a few.</p><p>I&#8217;ve seen these people &#8211; and others like them &#8211; for years buying gifts for their stands, raising money and spending their entire weekends at this bazaar.</p><p>How special?</p><p>There&#8217;s so much to be said about these events that bring communities together.</p><p>I know there are dozens of bazaars happening this summer, and I regret I can&#8217;t mention them all, so do yourself a favor and find one near you before summer is over.</p><p>You&#8217;ll see the kids getting their faces painted, the novice gamblers on the money wheel (ahem, me) and the foodies devouring anything and everything.</p><p>After the bazaar that night was some more fun.</p><p>A live music act was booked at Senunas&#8217; Bar &amp; Grill in downtown Wilkes-Barre where I listened to Always Undecided. Musicians Kyle Demko and Anthony Picataggio entertained with their acoustic and rock jams.</p><p>They play everything from Ed Sheeran and Breaking Benjamin to Jason Aldean.</p><p>Owner Rose Senunas &#8211; the grande dame of the bar and restaurant across from King&#8217;s College &#8211; listened to the duo along with our friend Kim.</p><p>Rose had just come from a fabulous dinner up the street at Cork Bar &amp; Restaurant with her family, then got to enjoy the band with her many regular customers.</p><p>Always Undecided was so good in fact that Kim inquired about booking them for her next summer house party.</p><p>Check them out on Facebook by simply searching for &#8220;Always Undecided.&#8221;</p><p>As the About section says, they&#8217;re just a couple of guys doing something they love.</p><p>In fact, we all should be doing things we love more often.</p><p>If live music is your thing, read the Times Leader Guide or the Weekender weekly to find what venues have who performing.</p><p>If sitting home with a glass of wine and doing some cooking is your thing, please imbibe.</p><p>If bazaars are your thing, attend them.</p><p>Remember at the bazaars: don&#8217;t forget to try the piggies!</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Mike McGinley is the Times Leader Media Group&#8217;s major accounts executive. Reach him at mmcginley@www.timesleader.com or 570-704-3945.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Around Town: With bazaar food, friends and live music, life is good