Things are already in full swing for the fourth annual Wine, Women, Wow! event, hosted May 8 this year at the city\u2019s new showpiece, the ShoWare Center.<\/p>\n
Hosted by the Kent Downtown Partnership, Wine, Women, Wow! is designed as a girls\u2019 night out filled with shopping, pampering and fun.<\/p>\n
And event chairwoman Libby Seidel promises this year\u2019s version will be bigger and better than any that came before it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year is going to be different for the other three,\u201d Seidel said. \u201cWe will have up to 60 vendors. It\u2019s doubled last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seidel is also expecting attendance to continue to grow. Last year, she said, approximately 300 people showed up. This year, she\u2019s expecting nearly twice that.<\/p>\n
For the past three years, the event was hosted by Green River Community College at Kent Station, but with the opening of ShoWare in January, Seidel has moved the event there and is opening it up even further, allowing companies from around the region to participate as vendors, not just those from Kent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to the next step,\u201d Seidel said.<\/p>\n
Seidel said this year\u2019s vendors include any services or industries that in some way ease a woman\u2019s everyday life. For example, a cleaning service has been given a booth this year. Local service clubs are also being allowed in for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought why not give them the opportunity to do some marketing to women,\u201d Seidel said.<\/p>\n
And in a change from year\u2019s past, this year\u2019s wine will come from Olympic Cellars, a Port Angeles-based winery.<\/p>\n
Seidel said she discovered the wine while on a trip with her husband. After ordering the wine, they discovered it to be made at a winery owned by three women. She thought it would be a great fit for the event and invited them to attend.<\/p>\n
But the primary focus of the evening remains a fun opportunity for women to get together in an essentially male-free environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a girlfriends\u2019 night out,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a way to get out and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor Suzette Cooke has opened the event for the past three years and will be on hand again at this year\u2019s festivities and said she looks forward to pampering herself and her mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just a fun event primarily by and for women,\u201d Cooke said. \u201cThey always have such a variety of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cooke also said she was looking forward to seeing a larger version of the event at ShoWare Center. She said while the event at Green River was wonderful, it was broken into different rooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never got the full sense,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Cooke said her favorite part is seeing all of the female-owned businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m most impressed with seeing the number of women in business,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Seidel said that while a night out is nice, there are ulterior motives.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want them to see downtown,\u201d she said of the women heading to ShoWare. \u201cI want them to see it\u2019s not the old Kent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf nothing else, they will hear about Kent,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Cooke said the evening also provides an opportunity for women to meet and network with each other, though sometimes just taking some time for one\u2019s self can be important.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be well worth taking the time to come and just play,\u201d the mayor said. \u201cWe need that more than anything right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Tickets to Wine, Women, Wow are available for $21 pre-sale and $26 at the door. For ticket availability call Libby Seidel at the Kent Downtown Partnership at 253-813-6976.<\/p>\n
Info: www.winewomenwow.com.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
If you go<\/p>\n
Tickets to Wine, Women, Wow are available for $21 pre-sale and $26 at the door. For ticket availability call Libby Seidel at the Kent Downtown Partnership at 253-813-6976.<\/p>\n
For more information visit www.winewomenwow.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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