Jam giveaway held to benefit museum

Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista
Angie Rader, left, talks with Jill Werner, seated, during a jam giveaway fundraiser for the Bella Vista Historical Museum.
Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista Angie Rader, left, talks with Jill Werner, seated, during a jam giveaway fundraiser for the Bella Vista Historical Museum.

Bella Vistans checked out a jam giveaway at the Bella Vista Historical Museum last Saturday, July 10.

Jill Werner, who manages the gift shop for the museum, also makes jam on the side, which was featured as part of a fundraiser. People who made a museum donation were given a jar of Werner's homemade jam.

This isn't the first fundraiser to feature her jams, she explained, and previous giveaways at Allen's were extremely successful.

The idea this time around was to get more people to check out the museum, she said, noting turnout could have been better.

"You have to see what works," she said.

Werner said she expects to do additional giveaways this summer and fall and details will be posted on her jam-making Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/TheJammerBellaVista.

She also provides information about her process and will post any times when she is teaching jam-making classes, she said. Additionally, she's always accepting supply donations.

Werner said she doesn't make any money making jams.

"Everything goes to the museum," she said.

For last weekend, Werner said she had 267 jars of jam ready to go, available in a wide array of often unconventional flavors.

Angie Rader stood with three or four jars in hand trying to pick out another flavor.

Rader said she was very enthusiastic about the giveaway as both a fan of the museum and of jams.

She was excited to try some different varieties and hopes to share them with some of her friends and coworkers, she explained.

"I think this is great," she said.

Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista
A wide variety of Jill Werner's jams were available at the museum fundraiser jam giveaway last Saturday, July 10.
Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista A wide variety of Jill Werner's jams were available at the museum fundraiser jam giveaway last Saturday, July 10.