Waiters meandered though the crowd bearing trays of such healthy hors d’oeuvres as balsamic mushroom bruschetta with sour cream and zucchini rounds with veggie bread stuffing, and brightly-colored crudites waited to be dipped into corn salsa.
HOLYOKE – With a picturesque valley spread out below them and blue mountains in the distance, about 100 women met on Wednesday evening for a “Fashion and Farmer’s Market” celebration at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House in Holyoke.
The program was part of the “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” series presented by The Republican. It was sponsored by Lux Boutique and Hampden Bank.
Waiters meandered though the crowd bearing trays of such healthy hors d’oeuvres as balsamic mushroom bruschetta with sour cream and zucchini rounds with veggie bread stuffing, and brightly-colored crudites waited to be dipped into corn salsa.
Women browsed among the 26 vendors, talked in clusters, or sat at round tables set up on two tiers to offer a splendid view down the mountain.
“It’s beautiful,” said Joyce Smalley, of Holyoke, who was holding a dark rose-colored drink designed especially for the event. She described it as “very good, on the tart side, with sugar on the rim, because women are sweet.”
Smalley was socializing with a group of women she had run into who had all graduated from Holyoke Catholic High School decades earlier.
“This is great,” said Joanne LaPlante, of Ludlow. “I always enjoy this.”
“Fantastic,” said Joanne Spence, of Holyoke, who attended the event with her mom, Jane Magdalenski of Easthampton.
“They always seem to have it in a nice place,” said Marjolaine Linares, of Feeding Hills, “and the women are all in a party mood.”
Donna Simpter, of Greenfield, was attending a "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" event for the first time. She and a colleague who work at Amherst College decided it would make “a nice night out.”
A highlight of the evening was the fashion show, which included outfits for both men and women. The clothes came from the new Lux Boutique in East Longmeadow, Urban Exchange in Northampton and Kate Gray in Longmeadow.
The fashion show was coordinated by Debbie Wright of Project Closet and the Design Team from the Brush Salon in East Longmeadow. The Ethel Lee Ensemble provided music.
Vendor Pam Desjardins was selling items made with llama fur from her Owl Acres Farm in Granby, while Atkins Farm Country Market in Amherst had stacked its booth with its famous apple cider doughnuts.
Other Vendors included Lux Boutique, Tie Food, Summersault Soaps, Mountain to Seas Knits, Touchstone Crystals, Bugg Hill Gardens, Stella and Dot Jewelry, Baystate Spirit of Women, Jennifer Corridan Photography, Creative Memories Consultants, Silpada Designs, Blueberry Hill Farm, Shoe Diva, Mary Kay, Williams Distributing, Shaklee, Denise Smith Photograph, Jockey and the Soupy for Loopy Foundation.
Door prizes and gifts rounded out the evening.