Wild Women’s Weekend a chance to show off your pink feather boas
June 2, 2005
What: Wild Women’s Weekend
Where: Ames Downtown Cultural District
When: Friday-Sunday
Cost: $15
Hot pink feather boas are one way women from Ames and the surrounding area will be able to show their wild side during the first Wild Women’s Weekend in downtown Ames.
“I think [the name] came in about the same time as the pink boas,” said Angela Moore, director of the Main Street Cultural District.
The “wild women” will travel to several businesses in downtown Ames to sit in on various demonstrations and seminars and partake in high teas. Another highlight is a Sunrise Health Walk on Saturday morning from the cultural district to Reiman Gardens.
Select Wild Women’s Weekend Events
Friday
10 to 10:30 a.m. – Wreath-making techniques at Everts Flowers, 329 Main St.
Noon to 1:30 p.m. – Poetry reading at the Octagon Center, 427 Douglas Ave.
Saturday
8 to 9.30 a.m. – Sunrise Health Walk from the Cultural District to Reiman Gardens
1 to 4 p.m. – Glass-torched beads demonstration with Laura Comito, Octagon Center, 427 Douglas Ave.
Sunday
12 to 12:45 p.m. – History of Oriental Rugs at Kitchen, Bath and Home, 201 Main St.
Moore says the weekend was inspired by suggestions from local women who had been to women’s weekends in other towns, including Story City and Galena, Ill.
Moore says the event was planned to be held in conjuction with Friday’s Art Walk.
“My goal with the Main Street Cultural District is not to plan more events, but make each event even bigger and better,” she said.
Moore says she hopes Art Walk will help attract women to Ames to spend Friday night with their families, and the women’s weekend will allow them to spend the rest of the weekend with their girlfriends.
“We’re getting quite a few women from out of town,” she said. “But more than half are from Ames.”
Vicky Flaws, manager of Cook’s Emporium, 313 Main St., says she is most excited that the weekend is attracting women from out of town.
“It will open their eyes to what Ames has to offer,” she said.
Flaws says her business will have a cooking demonstration for a type of French dessert which participants will be able to sample.
“We’re going to have enough staff not only to serve, but also answer questions,” she says.
Moore said about 300 women are already signed up to participate in the event and the youngest is nine years old. Several of the participants are members of local women’s groups, including the Red Hat Society and sorority alumni groups, in addition to ISU students.
“We’ve tried to target as many students as possible,” she says.
Although the event was not originally planned to be a fundraiser, Moore says part of the proceeds will go to Assault Care Center Extending Shelter and Support and the Youth and Shelter Services Passages Program, an after-school program for teenage girls.
