Women’s business fair makes its debut

On Sunday 18 April, the Lesbian Information Xchange (LIX) held the first women’s business and community fair — The Girls Want to Know Show.

The fair was designed for women-oriented businesses and community organizations to network and promote their services. For fours hours, the Glebe Community Centre was packed with women — both participants and show goers.

Vendors — from financial advisors to the handy talents of the Gadget Girrrls — displayed their wares.

Sue Dwyer, a painter and graphic designer whose work includes murals, commissions and portraits found out about the trade show from a networking lunch and decided to give the Glebe a go.

“It’s a good opportunity to meet a different set of people,” says Dwyer. “I have been doing the same different trade shows down in Barrhaven, where you get the same people, so it’s nice to get a different mix of people in a different area of the city.”

For the Gadget Girrrrls, Laura Leigh Way and Melanie Lalonde — who are members of LIX — the show was an opportunity to introduce their skills to ladies who are not so happy organizing their clutter or wielding a hammer.

“We like to think of ourselves as the people who like to help people to deal with the to-do list,” says Way. “We create organizational structures in homes or small businesses and we also do small home repairs.”

There were close to 50 vendors— a fact that delighted the organizers Catherine Purdie and Kerry Beckett.

“For our first one its pretty amazing” says Beckett.

Both Dwyer and the Gadget Girrrls were happy with the outcome of the show.

However, Dwyer is holding out to whether she would attend another Girls Want to Know Show. Her decision will be based on the interest shown after the fair and the amount of commission work she gets.

“But, my general feeling is that it is going to lead to several leads, from murals to commissioned art,” says Dwyer.

Find out more about LIX at girlswanttoknow.com.