By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Staff Writer

CHELSEA – Jordan Gilliam is heading up a ladies night out for all ladies in Chelsea on Monday, Aug. 22 to help showcase the city’s businesses and bring together all of the women in the community.

The event will be held from 4:30-7:30 p.m. and around 20 vendors from Chelsea will be in attendance showcasing what their businesses offer. Vendors include anything from local boutiques to realty and mortgage companies.

Each vendor will be giving out door prizes as well as selling some of their merchandise at the event.

“Chelsea has such a great community center with a big activity room and I just thought renting it out and hosting this event would be a great way to bring together businesses in the community and for us to get to know one another,” Gilliam said.

Gilliam currently owns a children’s boutique, 2 Girls & a Dog, and plans to move into her own store on Sept. 1 and said this event would be a great way to bring together all other local businesses doing the same thing she is.

All of the vendors will be giving out door prizes, which will be drawn at 7:15 that night. There are five ways to earn tickets for the drawing which include one for simply showing up, one for providing an email address, one for each friend you bring, one for every $20 you spend and one for visiting each booth.

“Even if people don’t purchase stuff it’s a good way for them to know what is right here in the community so they don’t have to go over the mountain to get stuff, but can get products locally,” Gilliam said.

She also said she originally only wanted to start out with 10 vendors, but had to grow the amount because of the many requests she received, which she said are still coming in.

“We are hoping to make this a monthly event because there are so many businesses in Chelsea that want to get word out and showcase what they offer,” Gilliam said. “I have had so many requests coming in that there is no doubt it can become a monthly event.”

Another thing she said that was important was for anybody in attendance to visit all vendors and see what they have to offer.

Gilliam said she is hoping to get around 100 people to attend, but would love to have 200-300 come out.

In addition to door prizes and shopping, the night out will include light refreshments such as crackers, cheese and sweet treats.

The event will be held in the Chelsea Community Center activity room at 11101 Chelsea Road. For more information on the event and to see a list of vendors attending you can visit facebook.com/events/1656254817952404/.