A whimsical weekend of women and wine is on the horizon for downtown Harlem after a year-long hiatus.
Ladies’ Night Out is an annual event hosted by the Harlem Merchant’s Association every fall. From its beginning in 2016, it has been a celebration of small business owners in a small but bustling town.
The event was an organic development the grew out of the revival of the merchant’s association, which had been inactive for several years.
“We just thought it would be something fun for the ladies in the community to do and a great way to introduce them to some of the new storefronts that were opening in Harlem a few years back,” said Alison Couch, president of the Harlem Merchant’s Association and proprietor of Couch Consulting.
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Between 2015 and 2016, several shops had begun to pop up, many of them run by women. The bonds of support between local entrepreneurs gave way to the return of the organization to promote them.
“We all just started meeting once a week and wanted to work together to improve the downtown area,” said Couch. “Create some more events in town, just to give some life back to the downtown area.”
Partakers in the free event receive a “passport,” or a map, printed with checkboxes, of the downtown area and its participating businesses and vendors, some of which include MC Furniture, Southern Branches, Rustic Outlaw Creations and Harlem Java House.
They are then encouraged to visit the stores, have their passports signed off on and finally go to Red Oak Manor between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. to submit their passport for a chance to win prizes.
This year the prize will be gift baskets with products from the vendors, and the evening will build up to a concert performed by the Harlem Sons.
The event is all-ages, but it is geared mostly toward adults, as a significant component of Ladies Night Out is drinking wine, which will be available at every vendor to participants of legal age who have purchased a special wristband.
“We’re excited to see what kind of turnout this year,” said Couch.
The night was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19. Couch says that not much will be different from previous years, except that slightly more care was taken regarding planning and crowds.
“We’re really sort of easing back into it this year,” she said. “We’re not having nearly as many vendors as we’ve had in the past, just because we didn’t want to overload the space with too many people.”
Couch notes that people from all over the area tend to come enjoy this unique, festive manner of showcasing the town’s businesses, including Aiken and McDuffie counties.
Age demographics are often diverse as well, with ladies from their 20s through their 60s coming to enjoy the night.
“I would like to hope that it’s inspirational,” said Couch. “Especially for the younger women that are maybe just graduating college or starting in their careers to see a group of women that own their own businesses and work together to make events like this one successful.”
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Ladies’ Night Out is a volunteer-based event that advances mostly retail enterprises, helping sales and introducing new people to them. Couch Consulting, however, is a service-based business. Although Couch would not directly benefit financially from the festivities, she says she benefits from the shared achievements of the community and its entrepreneurs that the night represents.
“I feel like we just work really well together, we have a great dynamic. It is so special that we have so many women-owned businesses,” said Couch. “I just love my fellow business-owners and I want to see them succeed, and that’s the attitude we’ve all adopted.”
Ladies’ Night Out will be held beginning at 5 p.m., Oct. 16, in downtown Harlem. For more information, visit its event page on Facebook at https://fb.me/e/1nBRWCkfV.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering Columbia County with The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
