A bazaar in Balinese terms is not a food fair, as we know; in fact it’s far from it. Here, a bazaar is basically a fund-raising event, which gives the banjar, school, university, marching band or even temple an excuse to have a party.
A location is chosen first. Normally for a banjar or a temple, the local banjar is used but for an organization like a school or a university, they hire a café or a restaurant to hold the event. The location is “tastefully” decorated and lots of square tables and plastic chairs are brought in. The place is often decked out with streamers and banners just to let everyone know that a real party is going on.
Then it’s time to sell tickets – this is left up to the local youth group who try to sell their allocated portion to their family and friends.
Most bazaars go on for several nights, starting at around 7pm and finishing in the early hours. If it’s a community event, the youth committee take care of the whole thing. Dressed in traditional Balinese dress, they will prepare the food and drink, organize the entertainment, take orders and wait on tables. It means a string of late nights for the teenagers who practically collapse at the end of it all.
Beer is pretty much the theme of the bazaars, however of course there’s other fare on the menu. Prices are marked up quite a bit – not exactly restaurant prices – but more than the regular local deal. The association holding the bazaar makes most of their money on beer sales and some tables are full of beer bottles by the end of the night.
A successful bazaar can generate a healthy profit and in most cases, in just a few nights enough money will have been raised.
