We should begin this blog post by stating that the name of it is a bit of a misnomer - we only take on events that we are truly excited about and love at J. Leigh Events. That being said, there are always a few that stand out in big ways for us, and we wanted to reflect on a few of them before we get too far into 2024.
Last year we helped plan and execute dozens of different events, ranging from intimate parties to large scale food festivals spanning the city of Charlotte. We are beyond grateful for every single one of them.
These are just a few of our favorites from 2023:
Favorite Nature-Inspired Event: World Bee Day at Waverly Shopping Center
This event was an idea from the client, a Charlotte shopping center which happens to have two honey bee hives on the property. May 20 is World Bee Day, and they approached us with the idea of celebrating the honey hives by educating the public on them and giving away goods made by the bees, like chapstick and soap.
This event was so much fun and the turnout was even better than we expected. We had a Mickey Mouse character dressed as a bee, games, a giant coloring board and bee keepers who spend time demonstrating and educating the public about the ecological impact of bees. It was a total success!
Favorite Fundraising Event: Bots & Brews with Digi-Bridge
Digi-Bridge is a Charlotte nonprofit committed to providing out-of-school STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) activities to K-8 students. They have a huge impact on the Charlotte community and inspire kids to think creatively, problem solve and collaborate with the programming they create.
We helped them plan and execute their annual fundraiser called Bots & Brews, a family friendly event with games, a 360 photo booth, food, beer, and a community robotics competition which anyone could sign up to participate in. Teams competed against each other in front of crowds while other stations were set up for kids to create slime, play with robots, build with Legos and more. The attendance of the event was incredible and we were able to help Digi-Bridge reach their fundraising goal.
Favorite Sip & Shop: Waverly’s Wine Walk
Wine and shopping - there’s rarely a better pairing. We loved hosting the Waverly Wine Walk this summer and tenants at Waverly loved it too. Folks paid $20 to attend the wine walk, all of which was donated to the Humane Society of Charlotte and Claire’s Army, two Charlotte charities in need of support.
With their ticket, attendees received a wine tasting and a passport to encourage them to go to all 16 participating merchants. Shops planned discounts, giveaways, and special sales to coincide with the event. We were able to raise $1,345 for charity and sales were up for all our merchants. We wrote a full blog post on this event - read it here.
Favorite Out-Of-Town Event: Lotus Education Panel
We worked with the Lotus Campaign to host an education panel in Raleigh to help share information about their mission to fight homelessness across the United States by increasing affordable housing availability. They do this by connecting nonprofits focused on homelessness with landlords who are incentivized to rent to houseless individuals.
Gregg Colburn, author of "Homelessness is a Housing Problem," and community leaders from various sectors came together to discuss the future of local housing, debunk myths about those experiencing homelessness and shared some innovations to solve homelessness across the Triangle in North Carolina. It was an incredibly impactful event and we were honored to play a role!
Favorite New Event: Promenade Family Day
We had over 300 people attend Promenade’s Family Day over the summer, driving sales and awareness for the shopping center located in Charlotte. Dozens of the stores in the center volunteered to give away gift cards and other freebies while kids played with inflatable games, got their faces painted and participated in coloring stations.
Community events like these make us so proud to work in Charlotte. Seeing so many folks get excited about shopping local and spending time with family truly warmed our hearts.
What an incredible year 2023 was! We are already so excited to see what this upcoming year has in store for us.
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