MARSHALL - For her day job, former Lynd resident Colleen Forster is a histologist, handling tissue samples that come into a lab.

Her speciality is immunohistochemistry, the technique performed to determine the prognostic markers for breast cancer patients.

She took on a second job as a hostess for a supper club 13 years ago and became friends with the owner, Nancy. Nancy was later diagnosed with breast cancer and had to close the restaurant.

Throughout the years, Nancy has relapsed three times and has undergone 73 chemotherapies and multiple surgeries.

For this year's table setting fair, Forster is assembling a table of retro dishes and other accessories she and Nancy found together at an antique store as a tribute to her friend - "Celebrating Nancy."

The 11th annual Weiner Memorial Foundation Table Setting and Holiday Fair will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Marshall Golf Club.

Proceeds for the event will be used for women throughout the region to have breast exams and mammograms.

Foundation director Mary Boulton and Aneesa Schaeffer, member of the event's planning committee, said there will be 30 table settings at the fair.

"I think we have a good smattering of Christmas (displays)," Schaeffer said. "A lot of focus on family, a lot of, 'this is what my grandmother used to do growing up.'"

Other themes include Halloween, Thanksgiving and "Route 66," Schaeffer and Boulton said.

Schaeffer said several table setters keep coming back every year.

"We do have a consistent backbone of people who do it," Schaeffer said.

But there are a few new faces, including Becky Timmerman, who always assisted her mother Judy, with table settings. This year, Becky Timmerman will do a "Pumpkin Surprise" table by herself.

Schaeffer and Boulton said a few years ago, they had their first person under age 18 do a table setting for the annual fair, which has become an ongoing tradition.

"Each year, we had at least two tables set by kids," Schaeffer said. This year a 5-year-old and a 10-year-old will do a table under the supervision of an adult, Schaeffer said.

Boulton said Lyon County recycling educator Sharon Root will also have a display at the table setting fair.

"She had many examples of things made from recycled products, including dishes," Boulton said.

Boulton said they will have the white plate challenge for the fair's planning committee, which is taking a plain set of white dishes and decorating a table. This year's theme will follow the Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center's breast cancer awareness campaign.

"All the white plate challenge tables will be donned in pink," Boulton said.

"We have eight of those this year," Schaeffer said.

There will be two table settings available at the silent auction, Boulton said, which are donated by Doretta Addison of Marshall. One of the settings is a Lenox Winter Greeting set for eight.

"That's her way of giving back," Schaeffer said.

Avera Marshall Auxiliary gift shop items will be for sale at the fair, and there will also be entertainment and holiday centerpieces.