A little rain can't stop Girls' Day Out

Despite rainy, and at times snowy, weather conditions, hundreds of women turned out in droves along downtown Sidney last Saturday for the ninth annual Girls' Day Out.

Girls' Day Out is a "shop local" event where area businesses and restaurants offer discounts, sales and specials throughout the day to female downtown visitors. It is organized by the Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce.

"It's a great way to get the ladies of Cheyenne County all in one place, and support our local economy as well," Chamber Communications Director Sandy Goble said.

Goble said the event has evolved since it began nine years ago, and has gotten bigger and better every year.

"It was a big success," Goble said. "And a lot of fun."

This year's event offered 300 goodie bags containing a map of downtown Sidney and coupons for more than 40 participating local businesses, as well as a movie pass, for a $3 registration fee to women aged 12 years and older.

"It used to be 18 and up, but we cut back on our age a little bit this year," Goble said.

Attendees then used those coupons with businesses and restaurants along the downtown area. New this year was the inclusion of home-based businesses in the event as well, Goble said.

"The idea is like going to the mall and everything's in one place," she said. "It's an opportunity for everybody to be highlighted, and one day where people can see everything at once."

Goble said the benefit of Girls' Day Out is that it not only gets the community to shop locally, but also exposes a lot of local businesses and services to them that they might not even be aware.

"And now, they will realize why it's a great thing to shop downtown or in Sidney," she said.

While the event focuses primarily on downtown Sidney, Goble said businesses outside of the event's central location also participated.

"The Vine participated, Hillside participated, French Door as well, and they are all outside of downtown," she said. "Buffalo Point, Appleby's and some of those businesses contributed as well."

Shopping continued through the early afternoon, although Goble said some businesses stayed open later.

The movie pass included with the goodie bag offered attendees the choice of two movies at the downtown Fox 9 theatre that afternoon.

"There was 'Sisters,' which was our 'chick flick,' and also 'Because of Winn-Dixie,' which was our G-rated movie," Goble said. "This is the first time that we offered two choices."

The goodie bag also contained a punch card, which attendees took to various businesses and restaurants to get "stamped." Goble said completed cards were then turned in and entered into the event's grand prize drawing.

"We had four winners for that, with the main grand prize being VIP seating for Downtown Sounds," she said.

Even with the rainy weather, Goble said the event was a "huge success," and was able to sell out of its goodie bags.

"In fact, I think the weather worked in our favor," she said. "Because people stayed in town and participated.

Even as the Chamber continues to decompress from this year's Girls' Night Out, Goble said they are already underway in planning for 2017.

"We just had our meeting, and are starting for next year," she said. "Taking the good and the bad, and seeing what we can do differently, or better, next year."