Women who attend The Great Escape on Aug. 27 will feel like they’ve been whisked away to New Orleans when they enter the Conway Expo Center, organizers said.
The fundraiser for the Women’s Shelter of Central Arkansas in Conway has a Mardi Gras theme this year, said Carrie Curtis, executive director.
“When you come in, you will have an opportunity to take a photo in a Mardi Gras-themed setting,” Curtis said.
Admission to the event at the Conway Expo Center and Fairgrounds, 2505 E. Oak St., is $5. Tickets are available at the door or online at eventbrite.com.
The annual shopping and pampering event, scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.,
offers women the chance to get $10 beauty services, including mini massages, manicures and haircuts, as well as free health screenings by Conway Regional Medical Center. Models will take the stage for a fashion show, and food with a Cajun flair will be sold — including some from an award-winning gumbo chef — as well as hot dogs for kids.
That chef is Eric Watts of Conway, the husband of Taylor Watts, a women’s-shelter board member and chairwoman of The Great Escape.
“He’s from Louisiana,” Taylor Watts said. “He’s won some awards — he even won the gumbo championship for the Faulkner County Home Builders Association.”
Watts said that when the board decided on the New Orleans theme, it was right down her alley.
“I said, ‘The funny thing is, my husband is from Louisiana,’” she said.
Watts, who was also chairwoman of last year’s event, said The Great Escape is being kicked up a notch, from the food to the number and size of silent-auction items and more.
“We actually have some vendors coming in from Louisiana,” she said. One specializes in dips and specialty foods. “They were there last year, and they were phenomenal.”
Other vendors include direct-sales companies, home crafting, home-improvement companies and more. The Broken China Jewelry Project, the largest year-round fundraiser for the women’s shelter, will have two booths, Watts said. Volunteers use broken dishes to make pendants to sell.
The $10 pampering services are a hallmark of the event.
Services include haircuts, and more stylists will be available this year because of the demand last year, Watts said. Women may come in and sign up for a time to get their nails or hair done, as well as receive mini massages, during the event.
She said Conway Regional Health System will offer free glucose, blood-pressure and cholesterol screenings.
A silent auction will include larger packages than last year, Watts said.
“We’re putting together a spa package, which consists of things like a free adjustment at a chiropractor, essential oils and a workout package, all together in one basket. We put together a grilling package with a fire pit, marshmallows — a s’mores type thing; and a Razorback package with a signed basketball, as well as Baggo boards for tailgating,” she said.
The proceeds will go into the general fund to purchase women’s-shelter needs that, Curtis said, other funding sources don’t cover, including households goods, food, utilities and medicine for clients.
Watts said the women’s shelter doesn’t have any private donors.
“Besides the small grants and what comes from the United Way [of Central Arkansas] — other than the fundraisers — there’s no other money,” Watts said.
A fashion show is back this year, too, Watts said, and is scheduled for sometime between noon and 1 p.m. It will showcase styles from a numbers of stores in Conway.
Watts said more women attended the event last year than in previous years, and she hopes to break that record this year.
The Great Escape will be a good time for everyone, Watts and Curtis said.
“[Board members] put a lot of work into this, and it’s always fun to me,” Curtis said.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.