Building Community
This week’s email is coming to you later than usual because, well, it was 3:15pm Friday when I finally had a moment to sit down and write this!
I thought about giving you a break from me this week, but I ran into someone today who literally grabbed my arm from the up escalator as I was going down on the other side and told me they look forward to my emails! ☺️ I’m looking at you, Sandy 👀
Last Saturday, Mat and I took the time to go and check out some local shops and were excited to be welcomed by Vic at the Hidden Gem in Kensington! Like us, Vic believes in supporting local and showcases 60 different local vendors and artisans in his shop. The experience reminded me of visiting flea markets in Cuba🇨🇺 with all of the individual little shops set up. It was magical 🪄.
Vic further surprised + delighted us with a shoutout on his socials telling his followers all about Greenbriar Market! Truly #LocalSupportingLocal (one of my favourite hashtags!) This is the kind of community we strive to create and be a part of!
If you follow our Instagram, this week you might have seen our collaborative Drag Queen Soap Making Workshop we hosted. This amazing event was spearheaded by Bowness Soapworks’ main Adventurer, Melba Seto! Another amazing human fighting to support local and build community!
Bowness Soapworks partnered with Greenbriar Market, Fringe Coffee, Rising Tides Taproom, QM Boutique, Kassey's Photography and Magic Pantry to host 8 amazing YYC Drag Queens 🫅to make soap and talk about the importance of supporting each other and creating opportunities to work and get paid for doing what we love!
We may have “crashed” 🤷 the Pride in Business event happening at Rising Tides afterwards where an impromptu Drag show allowed the Queens to seize an opportunity, put on an impromptu drag show and …. Get paid for doing what they love❤️! A-MAZING! 🤩
The entire night was a huge success 🏆 and we can now count 8 Drag Queens as part of our little Small Business community. You’ll even now be able to hire a queen to co-host for your next Soap Making WerKshop with Melba at Greenbriar Market! #AddQueenToCart 🛒
Thank you so much to Addi Pose, Julie Hamdrews, Tana Nuff, Ella, Liv Bright, Lulu Daniels, Justice and Mx Jendr for taking part in our event and entertaining us all night long. True royalty, all of you!
The important take away is that we are all just Calgarians trying to make a living and do what we are passionate about. I love that we continue to meet fantastic people whom we can support and can support us along the way 🥰
Like always, I'm looking forward to hearing from you! Feel free to hit that reply button and pop into my inbox to say hello or tell me about an unexpected place you found a supportive community!
Until next Friday,
Shawn
