Food, music, crafts, horticulture, henna, and connection: there will be something for everyone to help celebrate women coming up this Saturday.

Two local women are taking it upon themselves to host a free event Saturday, March 9th, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the Wheatland Senior Centre. This to celebrate International Women's Day (IWD)

The drop-in event will include a spaghetti and meatballs lunch (with a gluten-free noodles option) from 1:00 to 4:00, along with refreshments, and some activities that can be done while visiting and enjoying a playlist of empowering music by female artists.

"We have some henna kits, so we're going to be doing henna on each other, and we are having a plant swap," shared one of the organizers, Robin Davison. "I'm bringing a bunch of seedlings and cuttings and we're going to do a plant swap and then we're going to learn how to make our plant hangers out of dollar store materials, so it's a very budget-friendly craft. If it would be classified as macrame, it would be the simplest, most stripped down version, just involving six strands of rope."

"If you don't have plants to bring, don't worry about it," she noted. "We're going to have lots to choose from. I've got a couple of friends who are bringing some as well. We don't want anyone to leave empty-handed. We want everyone to have a little something, a little parting gift, just to show our appreciation for coming."

What's even more thoughtful is that everyone who attends will be entered into a draw. 

"We've been putting together a gift basket, with the theme of self-care," Davison explained, adding the basket includes things like bubble bath, Epsom salts, hand cream, and more. "So we'll be raffling that off and one lucky person will be taking that home." 

She said that she, along with her neighbour Teresa, just wanted to see how the community responds to an event of this kind.

"We're hoping for a variety of perspectives. We're hoping for diversity, and the event is not closed to men, but they should know that it's a celebration of female uniqueness," she clarified. "We all struggle, and I believe that we're all in the same storm together. But this day in particular is about the uniqueness of the female struggle and the uniqueness of our voice and what we have to offer."

While IWD is on Friday, March 8th, this event is being held on Saturday to reach a wider audience. After all, this year's IWD theme is "Inspiring Inclusion".

Since the event has no sponsors, and the two local women have pooled their funds to host it, they will make a donation jar available for anyone who wants to contribute. However, this is not required for participation.

"We want to give back. We want to empower people and just foster a sense of belonging and a sense of community." 

"It's just from our heart to yours. Everybody is welcome to come down and celebrate all things feminine at the Wheatland Senior Centre with us on Saturday," she invited. "We hope for diversity. We hope for a variety of perspectives, variety of ages. Children are welcome. We're going to have things set up for the kids to do, and we just want to empower people for a day, so we're really looking forward to it."

Davison said that since this is the first free event they've planned, they aren't sure how many people to expect, so they may pack up at around 4:00. p.m.

Find the event on Facebook HERE.

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