Ladies' Day Out celebrates 20 years of family, friends, fun and shopping
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
It was March 4, 2002, when Fantastic Ladies Day made its debut. Over the course of the last 20 years, a lot has changed about the popular Elkader event, including the name. Now known as Ladies Day Out (LDO) the event has grown with the times into what it is today, from a meeting room day of presentations into a yearly shopping spectacular with prizes, presentations and demonstrations.
The original idea was simply based on bringing visitors to Elkader after the long hibernation of winter. It had a more educational bent, less focused on the shopping and more on informing visitors, and even locals, about what the stores sold.
The informative nature, according to Curtis Ruhser, one of the individuals involved in the original formation of the event, included participating businesses putting their merchandise items on display in what was then known as The Wellness Center, the space currently occupied by TD’s Sports Bar and Grille. It was here a schedule was established for the businesses, and people viewed new merchandise and services offered by them, which is far different from the in-store vibes today.
After the initial year, Ruhser noted the event shifted between the community rooms of FreedomBank and Central State Bank. But in the words of Ruhser and another individual involved during the inception of LDO, Elaine Diers, the event was poorly attended.
“LDO had a few early rough years because it was a new idea, and honestly, not very well attended,” Ruhser said.
With this in mind, changes needed to be made. It was in 2006 Rusher believes the event really started to take off and formed the basis of what it now is.
The rough years didn’t mean the Retail Committee behind the concept wanted to do away with the importance of the family, friends and fun aspect of the event. The group also didn’t want to focus solely on sales, but they had to do something to increase attendance. The decision was made to stop hosting the event in the community rooms and, instead, have people visit the actual businesses to view presentations or demonstrations.
“Instead of us running everything to one location, we decided to have the visitors do the traveling, where they might see a business they never had been in. It was the perfect thing to do because the event just exploded in terms of attendance,” Diers said.
With this explosion in attendance, there was also an increase in what the event offered. Along with the newly added personal touch of each person going to the business, LDO also added gift baskets, coupon books, swag bags and chamber dollars.
Another perk of getting visitors and locals into the stores was it put them in the heart of the retail hub and restaurants, which saw an increase in business, making the event a town wide affair.
In an anecdote told by Ruhser, it was big enough to get then mayor Bob Garms to comment on the amount of cars in town.
Of course the success was nice, but beyond that, for people like Diers, it was about more than sales.
“Besides bringing people into the stores to see what they sell and increasing sales, the most heartwarming thing about the event is to see the groups of girls that come. From a group of high school friends who may have graduated years before to family groups including grandma and grandchildren, it’s just been a great way to do something together,” she said.
This was the prevailing theme that started LDO and it has stayed with it ever since, even as the event peaked with 300 registrations for prizes and other gifts a few years ago. LDO has easily reached over 200-plus attendees each year since 2010.
It is important to note, in terms of registrations, that many don’t take the time. They just happened to be in town for the day, but still visited the shops and restaurants.
“The retailers all take a lot of time to plan ordering and stocking merchandise, planning sales and presentations, having employees ready for almost never-ending customer traffic, so they can maximize sales that day,” Ruhser said.
The success of the event can be seen from the fact that other towns were calling the chamber office and asking how they could do it. Diers told of one such incident involving the Manchester chamber director. The only thing they asked of Manchester was that they didn’t hold their event on the second Saturday in March, which has become the LDO tradition, Diers noted.
Ruhser added that some of the success stems from a concept that works and is familiar and comfortable.
“The true success of LDO is the fact that this is a day women get together with their family and friends for an enjoyable day out planned just for fun,” he said.
That fun continues this year on Saturday, March 12, as the 20th anniversary event hosts several highlighted activities, including the Elkader Fire Department Fireman’s Dance that night and a wine pairing dinner at Schera’s. Deer Run is offering a discount on their cabin for that weekend.
Several businesses are also hosting in-store events, such as “Hot to Decorate a Bookshelf” at Styled Abode, “An Introduction of Crystals” by Daisy Kay Crystals and quilt turning at The Backstitch.
And, of course, there is shopping and a plethora of free gifts at participating businesses, but the heart of the event remains as it always was: family, friends and fun.
Not bad for an event originally started as a way to “chase away the winter blues and cabin fever,” as Ruhser stated.
For a full list of LDO events and offerings, visit www.elkader-iowa.com or contact Elkader@alpinecom.net. Ads can also be found in this week’s edition.
