The Naperville North community was in for a surprise when the NNHS Booster Club announced the end of its Market Day fundraiser.

After Market Day was purchased by World’s Finest Chocolate, another fundraising company, the fundraiser came to an end. All ten of the Booster Club’s annual Market Day sales–in which customers would order food products from catalogs–were terminated, along with thousands of dollars in revenue. The news came as a shock to the Booster Club, former Market Day Chairman of Booster Club Carol Stanelli said.

“They really gave us no inkling [about the sale]…over the summer, I was contacted by the president of Boosters and they were like, ‘What’s going on?’ and I was like, ‘I don’t know,’” Stanelli said.

Booster Club Co-President Mary Doyle saw a dramatic drop in the revenue brought in by the fundraiser.

“Last year, we made about $2,000 by the end of the school year,” Doyle said. “In 2014, the end of the 2013-2014 school-year, Market Day had made about $6,000.”

So what happened? How did Market Day, the familiar fundraiser that many remember as a fixture in District 203 schools, lose so many once-dedicated customers?

Stanelli believes the main issue stemmed from the company itself. Thinking back to the past school-year, she can remember numerous obstacles that Market Day presented: a dramatic change of the location of the distribution center, a sudden firing of school sales representatives, and even a big sale canceled on short notice.

“I mean, they rescheduled [the sale],” Stanelli said. “But people had to come back later and it was inconvenient.”

Stanelli also feels that, over the years, Market Day has become a blip on the radar of the NNHS community.

“In grade school, kids would take home those Market Day catalogs, so parents could fill them out,” Stanelli said. “There’s nothing like that in high school. I mean, I wrote in the Huskie Howler, but I don’t know how many people saw it.”

Student Activities director Jennifer Baumgartner sees the closing of the fundraiser as a result of today’s consumer culture.

“You can probably attribute [the losses] to, you know, the Sam’s Clubs and the Costco’s,” Baumgartner said. “People are so into instant gratification, like they need it now.”

Doyle agrees. As a former customer of Market Day, she also believes that Market’s Day’s products themselves may be unappealing to customers.

“I think there’s been more of an awareness of healthy eating,”  Doyle said. “And when you buy processed foods, like most of the products in Market Day, it’s not as easy to maintain that.”

To Doyle, losing Market Day is not a big deal. She said the fundraiser made up only a small percentage of the revenue that the Booster Club raises each year.

“Market Day was just one of the fundraisers that Boosters did,” Doyle said. “Typically, at the end of the school year, we raise at least $100,000, $70,000 for athletics and $30,000 for activities, plus some some additional money, used on school projects…the big screen and the lighting system in the NPAC, the weight benches in the weight room…the TVs around school.”

Stanelli is less confident.

“We still raised thousands of dollars,” Stanelli said. “And with Market Day, we would get minimum ten percent–sometimes fifteen, twenty percent of what we sold. The more we sold, the more profit. They will either have to look for an alternative sale or event or just be hopeful that the existing fundraisers will make up the difference.”

Baumgartner is sure that the Booster Club is versatile enough to make up that difference.

“They’ll make it up in concession stands, they’ll make it up in spirit wear…the Saver Cards…the Fashion Show,” she said.

Although Market Day is the biggest fundraiser to close in recent years, Baumgartner can think of several other opportunities that  are no longer available to organizations within NNHS.

“We’re not allowed to do bake sales anymore, because it doesn’t follow healthy food guidelines,” Baumgartner said. “We used to have fundraisers in the cafeteria all the time. Kids were selling taffy apples, kids were selling baked goods. That’s all shut down.”

New policies are changing the very nature of fundraisers at NNHS, Baumgartner explained. Now, more than ever, students and parents are abandoning food-based fundraisers and turning to activity-based sales, like plant sales, car washes and community events.

“They do a lot of off-site things now, like Chipotle night,” Baumgartner said. “If you go there and eat, the group gets money back.”

While the NNHS community may be able to replace Market Day with creativity, the fundraiser will still be missed, Stanelli said.For families especially, according to Stanelli, the individually wrapped serving sizes were perfect–and many dishes were crowd favorites, like the chicken steaks.

“People bought because they wanted to buy, not because they  felt obligated to,” Stanelli said.

Although the dinner tables of District 203 will not be the same without Market Day, Baumgartner’s final diagnosis is that the NNHS Booster Club will make a full recovery.

“They’re pretty creative, they have a pretty big group of working parents that work with them,” Baumgartner said. “I don’t think that they’re too concerned that they won’t make that money somewhere.”