Ladies Night Out - Behind The Scenes

    Ladies night out - so many towns have them. It's a great way for women to explore their local downtown, get out with the girls, and have fun. And it's a good deal for the merchants also, helping to create visibility. In Bremerton, WA, that's especially good since many of our local businesses are owned by women.
     When some of us first talked about doing this it seemed like a simple enough idea. It turned out to be a little more complicated than we'd originally envisioned and it was certainly more work. My committee of amazing women labored over this for months, signing up merchants, getting sponsors, bringing in special entertainment. And boy, we had it in spades last night: the Sweet Adelines sang barbershop for us, the symphony provided a quartet, we had salsa music from a great band. And we even had tap dancers. Something for everyone. Our merchants went all out, offering everything from free flowers to chocolate covered espresso beans and free lattes. Almost everyone offered appetizers and wine tasting. And chocolate - you can't have a women's event without lots of chocolate!  And of course, our ladies got goody bags with some freebies in them to start them on their treasure finding adventure. Ladies, if you could have seen us stuffing all those goody bags you'd have given us medals... or at least chocolate.
     When it comes to something like this you work so hard, try to cover all your bases and then... hope the weather will cooperate. It did! A lot praying kept the rain at bay until ten minutes after the event ended. Talk about perfect timing!
     And a good time was had by all. This was only our second Ladies Night Out so maybe we're still in the honeymoon stage, but our team of women was pumped last night, high on success and good vibes. Yes, and chocolate.
     One man heard me talking about it at the bank with my teller and chimed in with, "Why don't you have a men's night out?" Well, simply put, you guys don't have the shopping gene. (But hey, if someone wants to plan one, go for it!) Anyway, like the old Cyndi Lauper song says, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."
     So, a big, public thank you to my wonderful committee of local businesswomen and volunteers who worked so hard. A big thank you to all the women who turned out, too. We did, indeed, have fun!