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"Why," said a visitor one year, "your things are so beautiful they belong in a gift shop all year long."

There was woodworking from the Ogden Workshop—gleaming mahogany bread trays, four poster doll beds with ruffled organdy testers, handbag handles and clever lamp bases. One, shaped like an old-fashioned pump, was turned on and off by moving the pump handle up and down.

Handsome pottery of simple modern design was the offering of George Alsup, a college ceramics professor, who had opened a studio on the Gulf coast. He gave demonstrations on his potter's wheel.

His wife, Joanne, and her friend Claudia O'Conor, took over a corner of his shop and turned out original ceramic jewelry at a tiny price which was always swooped up by the bazaar customers. There were little crab and shrimp pins (almost an emblem of the Gulf coast), floral and modern designs. Something for everybody, the girls said.

Local artists, many of whom are regular contributors to national magazines, lined the walls with their original paintings. Photographers brought in portrait color work.

There was jewelry of all kinds, from striking silver free forms to rickrack, including shell earrings and pins, plastic work and enamel on copper. All from different hobbyists.

And, of course, there were tables heaped with rugs, aprons, pot holders, dish towels, fancy embroidery, original handbags, hats, "Mammy" dolls, doll clothing, stuffed toys and Christmas decorations. There were dried floral arrangements, Christmas centerpieces and lamp shades.

ON THAT eventful day in December, 1954, as the ladies were picking up the empty coffee cups and counting out the money, they discussed the guest's remark about a craft shop.

It was a breathtaking idea. But one they liked to think about. Mrs. Donna Baird, who makes handsome bags and lamp shades, was inspired by the idea. When holiday festivities were over she and a group of friends began calling others in the community who might be interested in such a shop.

A town meeting was held with some sixty people attending. Everyone in the community, from businessmen, civic groups and housewives to the retired couples wanted to get in on the "Harbor Shop" as it was finally named. They signed up thirty-five volunteer hostesses to do the selling when the shop was ready. Others offered to help clean up and build things.

They didn't want to be sponsored by any one organization, so they became a community project. Their biggest problem was where to get a shop without any money.

It came as a donation, from an interested citizen, for the three-month trial period the group had set. If the shop was a success they would pay the rent for the building thereafter.

A former antique shop, it was now chock full of antiques being stored there by the owner. But these were turned into an asset for the shop as they were used for displaying the handicrafts.

A post card and newspaper campaign turned up hobbyists from all the little Gulf coast towns. Every day was like Christmas as they brought in their boxes and unpacked them before the eager eyes of Mrs. Baird, who had been made chairman, and the hostesses on duty.

The women had purchased 250 postal cards and mimeographed the message side with this inscription: "What do you MAKE that you'd like to SELL?" They told about the new shop, the date it would open, location, person to contact for information and asked hobbyists to bring in their crafts.

These cards were sent out in packs of five to each handicrafter the townsfolk knew. And this hobbyist was asked to address each of the cards and send them on to persons he knew who made things they'd like to sell.

In this manner the townspeople reached many hobbyists they'd never known before. They soon met, however. These early arrivals were given additional post cards to send out to their friends.

THE SHOP received good news coverage in the local papers by staging a name contest. Publicity chairman Alice Prindiville sent out news releases announcing a contest to name the hobby shop, explaining the idea behind the shop. The story also asked hobbyists to drop by. Curious readers came, too.

The contest winner was Charles Merrick of Pass Christian, who carves seagulls and builds birdhouses as a hobby. His nautical name fitted the shop perfectly in this little harbor town with its fishing and resort activities, His reward was a chocolate cake baked by one of the hostesses. Other publicity was gained through pamphlets describing the shop which were placed in every motel and hotel, some 200 of them, from Mobile, Alabama to New Orleans. Local clubs paid for the printing.

Posters were placed in public libraries, in a few retail shops and at the nearby Air Force base in wives' clubrooms.

A local writer did a feature article on the shop which was published in a large New Orleans Sunday newspaper. Another writer, vacationing on the coast, returned to Houston, Texas, with material on the shop for her newspaper column.

Local papers and travel guides became interested and sent out their reporters. Two Mississippi radio stations donated time to the shop and asked the women to tell its story.

This free publicity over the year, together with visitors and hobbyists spreading the word to their friends, brought customers from 139 cities, thirty-four different states, London, Paris, Canada and Argentina.

And as its fame spread, letters came like this one:

"I'm a heart patient and have been a shut-in for eight years. My articles are not unusual or outstanding, but I need to sell them. And you would be helping me to help myself."

This woman, over 100 miles away in the upper part of the state, is now earning cash for her pillowcases and pot holders. And she's only one of several who live up-state but have found the Harbor Shop.

Even teen-agers are represented here.

Fourteen-year-old Michael Moffit has made a fascinating hobby from cultivating Vetiver, referred to by most southerners as a "pesky grass."

This young man grows it, dries the lavender-smelling roots and his mother packages it in organdy bags. A bag of this in your linens, it is said, will rid them of that musty-damp smell in humid weather.

Vetiver is a native of the West Indies and its oil is often used in perfumes and soaps; its fiber for weaving mats.

A local woman wanted to make baby clothes for the shop. But she lacked money to buy material. One of the hostesses suggested that she round up some flour sacks from a nearby mill, make them into dish towels and earn the money that way. At twenty-five cents each the towels sold fast.

The shop made an exception to its rule of monthly payments by check to crafters and gave this woman her earnings immediately. Within the week she returned with a delicately smocked baby dress, the first of a long line of children's clothing she's sold at the shop.

A teen-ager bicycled seven miles to bring in his model airplanes and ships. He enjoys building them and sells them to earn money for more model kits.

Stories like these, oft-repeated by the hostesses in showing customers around the shop, caused one visitor to remark, "You've got a shop with a heartbeat."

IN THREE months the shop earned $1,600 and had over 100 hobbyists contributing. They felt sure of progress and began cleaning out the back room because they needed more display space.

In its fourth month the second room was opened, decorated with crab net light fixtures, fish poles for curtain rods and shrimp trawl nets for window hangings.

Each hobbyist sets his own price on his work. The shop gets fifteen per cent for handling the item. This commission pays for rent and other operating expenses. No one is paid to work at the shop except a weekly cleaning woman.

When the hobbyist brings in his work, each item is entered separately into the receipt book. He gets a carbon of this entry. Then hostesses attach sales tags marked with his name on each piece of work he has brought in. Each time a sale is made the hobbyist's name appears on the carbon sales slip together with the item and price. These are tallied at the end of the month to determine each crafters earnings.

All the items are kept a month or two and if not sold returned to the hobbyist. The hostesses try to help the handicrafter determine why the particular piece has not sold. Usually the person is able to make something else which will sell and everyone is happy.

"Not many of the things have been unsaleable," says Mrs. Baird. "But there have been a few. We always try the things people bring in, for you never know what is going to strike someone's fancy."

Whenever you drop in at the Harbor Shop there's something new to see. This constant turnover keeps items from becoming shopworn and keeps regular customers returning.

Competition among exhibitors doesn't exist. For example, there are six potters exhibiting and each has an entirely different style. Five kinds of jewelry are sold. None of them conflicts. In fact, most of these creative people are inspired by the work of their contemporaries.

The shop is located on East Beach Boulevard, the town's main street, which is also called the Scenic Highway because it passes close by scores of gracious homes, among them Woodrow Wilson's Summer White House, Dorothy Dix's home and Ossian Hall, where a Hollywood movie was filmed.

It is a shady, peaceful street, overhung with moss-draped oak trees. Gardens abound and the architecture is that of the early 1900's when these large summer homes were built by wealthy summer visitors. Each one faces the Gulf waters.

In Pass Christian this drive passes many clapboard store buildings like the Harbor Shop with their wooden porches built out to the sidewalks. Then it turns back down to the beach to join U.S. 90, which is traveled by 30,000 cars daily.

Only eight months after the Harbor Shop's opening and 300 contributors later, the shop was again overcrowded.

The women seized the opportunity offered them and decided to move across the street into a spacious building occupied by Phil Ambler, an antique dealer of long local standing.

THE CHARMING little shop was vacated on October 12, 1955, while many friends expressed regret over leaving the original location. Some thought the Harbor Shop's charm would be forever lost.

"No," Mrs. Baird replied. "If you can create charm in one spot, you can create it in another."

By sharing the rent in their new location they have gained nearly twice the floor space, the shop is every bit as charming, and they pay only $5 a month more.

Moving day is a story in itself. Although a van had been hired for October 15, the shop was moved by six station wagons, a "dolly" and many pairs of willing hands on the Saturday before.

Friends had stopped by the old shop early that morning to offer aid in dismantling the shop and packing. In a few hours the job was done. Someone said, "Why can't we move now? You can't do any business with everything packed."

Mrs. Baird, usually the optimist, said, "You can't possibly move all that heavy furniture."

"Watch us!" they exclaimed. By 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the move was completed down to the last window box and ash tray.

One woman dropped by to see what was going on and returned later with hot lunch, including ice cream, cake and gallons of coffee.

Carpenters came in with their tools and put up shelves and gave hours of free labor.

"It was the most wonderful example of teamwork I ever saw," Donna Baird says. "I don't think it could happen anywhere but in the Pass," she declared in thanking them.

NOW, THE Harbor Shop has two front doors opening onto East Beach Boulevard at number 155. One room is given over to Phil Ambler's antiques. Dubbed the English Room, it receives the ladies' attention regularly as they have charge of a table arrangement of his fine china, crystal and silver there.

A popular new addition to the shop is the Galley. Here you can sit back and relax over a cup of coffee and plate of cookies while you decide what to buy. An old-fashioned teapot stands in the center of the kitchen table and rings out as you "Drop a nickel in the pot to keep the coffee coming hot."

Here, too, is Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, bare no more. The ladies have stocked it with such homemade goodies as orange marmalade, fig preserves, "pin money pickles", rose geranium jelly, sherry jelly, jams, honey, Creole pralines, cheese cake and even fresh eggs! And they'll take orders for Creole gumbo and stuffed crabs made by a talented local cateress.

The Galley opens onto their back porch, the women's next challenge. They'll screen it, add tables and display driftwood, bird feeders and other outdoor things there. Trees and plants are already plentiful in the back yard.

THE HARBOR Shop's Board of Directors held a gala first birthday in the Galley last February 1 and tallied up the year's results, a whopping $11,580 in sales. Of this, hobbyists earned $9,759 and shop expenses were $1,362. There was a comfortable $267 in the bank against a slow month.

An innovation, added last fall, is the pre-Christmas hobby session where church groups meet at the shop to work on bazaar projects during the shop's regular hours. These have blossomed into sewing circles held at the shop by church and civic groups throughout the year.

Collectors are not left out at the shop. For them, there's a barter board where they can list their wants. And hobbyists who can't display their talents can announce them on another bulletin board with cards such as these: Picket Fences To Order; Slipcovers Made; Pictures Framed and Catering.

The zest for a useful, interesting life is found in the hostesses as well as the hobbyists. "We enjoy being at the shop," says one of them. "Of course, usually we start out by wanting to be of service. Before we know it, we're simply enjoying our half-days at the shop. It's not just a service; it's fun."

One hostess was learning to sell just to see if she could do it should she be left widowed. Another, wintering on the coast for her health, came every Saturday to work and found a warm circle of friends.

The hostesses say that they'd be mighty proud if other communities tried the same craft shop idea. But, they agree, you'll need someone like "our Donna" at the helm. She's the one who coordinates all the various activities of running the shop. So engrossed is she in the project that she hires someone to stay with her mother so that she can take her turn at hostessing.

Says Mrs. Baird, looking directly at you, eyes bright, "I don't want the credit for all this. Why, it wouldn't be possible without all the others who work on it."

And she points out Ruth Polk's painstaking job of handling all the shop's bookkeeping, Mrs. David Powell's job of making sure the shop is fully staffed each day, and Mrs. Watson Prindiville's task of keeping publicity about the shop before the public.

It takes hobbyists, community workers and town spirit to make a shop like this.

"We started as a community project," says Mrs. Baird. "We hoped to bring in folks along the Gulf coast. Now, it's turned into a state-wide project." And, they're thrilled over it.

HERE ARE a few of Mrs. Baird's pointers for any readers who are interested in starting a similar community craft shop:

"First, find a small interested group to start the project initially, one that works well together. Keep bringing more people in until it grows into a community-wide undertaking. We think it's easier to achieve this community spirit if no one group or groups act as a sponsor. You'll get people from all walks of life who are interested in the craft shop idea.

"Second, keep chairmanships to a minimum and select persons well suited for their jobs, just as a businessman would. We have only four officers, a general chairman, and one each for hostesses, bookkeeping and publicity.

"Third, select a location with your own community traffic patterns in mind and have ample parking space. We chose the Scenic Drive because we felt the more leisurely tourists who had time to go sightseeing would also be looking for interesting shops. Those who go whizzing by on U.S. 90 are mainly interested in seeing the major spots.

"Fourth, keep your publicity newsy, interesting and constant. We've had good luck getting free newspaper publicity and radio spots because we have an unusual project and people want to hear about it. Try also pamphlets, announcements to clubs and church groups, in libraries (perhaps a display in the how-to-do-it book section) and enter into community projects like garden shows and sewing bees. All these things are good ways of making news.