Poppy & Pomelo hosted “Braless & Lawless” to kick off International Women’s Day and extended activities to celebrate women all weekend long at their shop off campus.
Braless and Lawless was an all-weekend event held March 8-10 and hosted a variety of activities for attendees. On Friday, March 8, women could sip on cocktails while making candles at “Fun with Cocktails and Candles.”
The Braless & Lawless event started out with a sticker, designed by local artist Caitlyn Edwards. The design of the sticker inspired Edwards and co-founders of Poppy & Pomelo Kami Risk and Marin Fiske to make it something bigger.
“It (the sticker) went off so well and all the women loved it so much that we should make an event out of it,” Risk said. “And what better month to do that than March.”
On Saturday, March 9, they hosted an event called “Marbling with Dawna Gaither,” which let participants create fabric shirts from floating paints on water to make intricate patterns.
“Candles and Queens” was the activity for Sunday, March 10, featuring a local drag queen who came and taught two candle making classes at 12:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.
Throughout the weekend, 10% of sales on all merchandise were going to YOU ARE Co., a local nonprofit that assists marginalized girls and women by helping them in any way they may need.
Jessica Upchurch, founder of YOU ARE, operates at the local level supporting women and girls and sponsoring a girls group in Africa.
“We always want to be good contributors to our community and to other women,” Risk said.
With that mission in mind, Risk and Friske merged their businesses two and a half years ago and started offering candle making classes and added a bar.
“We grew from there, and we knew what direction they wanted to go in,” Fiske said
Poppy & Pomelo have been settled at their permanent location at 526 E High St. since August 2023.
