Ladies filled the Sylvan Lake Municipal Library on Saturday for an evening of pampering and desserts.
The annual XOX Valentines Ladies Night event on Feb. 1 featured some new aspects for its sixth year.
This year the event also served as a fundraiser for the library’s programs bringing in money through the ticket fees, silent auction and wine sales.
“We raised almost $1,000, which is more than I kind of envisioned it doing,” said Corrie Brown, programmer at the library.
Brown explained when the decision was made to use the event as a fundraiser they weren’t expecting the amount of support the library was going to receive from community groups.
“We actually didn’t know we were going to be as fortunate as we were this fall and have some really great donations in support of the library,” added Brown.
The money donated and raised will be used to enable the library to run more programs necessary to the community, such as Art Attack, which was brought back this month.
The vendors were also supportive of the fundraising aspect and donated great items to the new silent auction, said Brown.
She said 20 vendors signed up for the event, although 17 were present at the event due to weather.
The vendor selection included everything from purses, to tea, to bath bombs, as well as favourites such as massages and a psychic medium.
New on the list this year was Tupperware and a few different jewellery people.
Additional changes this year was the switch from a Friday night event to a Saturday night, the door prize format and a sign up list for the psychic.
“We had less people than we’ve had in previous years, but I think the ones that were here stayed longer, so that was nice to see,” commented Brown of the event.
Looking forward to next year, she says, they might use the Programming Room to house an activity such as a craft or something more physical.
Brown added they may also possibly change the wine aspect of it because the sales this year were not as popular as in the past.
“Something that we’ve talked about for this kind of event, or a men’s event, is doing whisky tasting or beer tasting and we have some really great local breweries so that might be something we incorporate in the future,” Brown said.
A men’s event is an idea the library has been toying with for a few years, but is something they are hopefully going to bring to life in the fall.
Brown says the attendees face no requirement to spend money at the vendors or on the silent auction.
“It’s a really fun night out and the whole library really transforms when we do this event,” said Brown, adding it the event happens every year. “They can come and just have some delicious desserts and hang out with their friends and have a good time.”
