Morinville and District Chamber hosting International Women’s Day event

by Stephen Dafoe and Morinville Online

The Morinville & District Chamber of Commerce is hosting an International Women’s Day Celebration, the first of what it hopes will be an annual event. 

The celebration is at the Morinville Community Cultural Centre on Thursday, Mar. 9, starting at 5 p.m. 

“At our business awards last year, we noticed that every single new business nominee was a female entrepreneur,” said Chamber Manager Roberta Pawluk of the motivation behind organizing the event. “A couple of them approached us to celebrate women in business for International Women’s Day.”

After speaking to some local women entrepreneurs about helping to organize the event, Pawluk said everything just “kind of came together.”

Although the event started with celebrating women entrepreneurs, the Mar. 9 event is open to all women.

Things will start at 5 p.m. Mar. 9 with a Sip and Shop with wine, charcuterie boards and an opportunity to shop with seven Morinville and Sturgeon County women’s businesses. 

The formal program starts at 6 p.m. with a welcome followed by a guest speaker who will talk about the importance of setting boundaries. 

An interactive segment follows. Called What Colour is Your Personality, Pawluk said it would be a fun way for women to get to know themselves and each other. 

“As part of that, you have to find someone with an opposing colour and then get into groups with all the colours,” Pawluk said. 

A panel of women entrepreneurs will follow the interactive part of the evening and networking from 8 p.m. until 9 p.m. 

Pawluk and the Chamber are hoping to sell out the event and invite area women to come out and meet other interesting women. 

“We have some very dynamic women in our community that are worthwhile getting to know,” Pawluk said. 

Tickets for the event, which is 60 per cent sold out, are $45 per person and available at the Morinville & District Chamber of Commerce office or by calling 780-939-9462.