Downtown businesses celebrate 'Girls Night Out' in Grundy Center

GRUNDY CENTER – On Thursday evening, more than 30 local businesses and organizations will crowd the downtown district to help celebrate Grundy Center’s 9th annual ‘Girls night Out’ event, which raises thousands of dollars each year to battle cancer.
This year’s event will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 13, and will feature many new attractions, and plenty of past favorites.
The main attraction at this year’s event is the Wine, Chocolate and Cheese Walk.
To participate, community members can purchase a ticket (which will be available at the corner of 7th St. and G Ave.) and sample wine, cheese and chocolate at participating businesses. The first 150 ticketholders will receive a special gift, donated by the Grundy County Memorial Hospital.
Aside from the Wine, Chocolate and Cheese Walk, community members will have the chance to take a free pink limo ride, enjoy live music at the courthouse square, shop specials at downtown businesses and enter in various prize giveaways.
For the kids, there will be face painting, a balloon artist and plenty of food and other fun.
All money raised from the event will be donated to local organizations to help battle cancer. Half of the money will be given to the Grundy County Memorial Hospital, which will be purchasing a new 3D mammography machine to bring state of the art cancer detection to area women; the other half of the money will be given to the oncology department of the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital.
During this year’s ‘Girls Night Out’ event, cancer survivors will have the chance to take part in a Survivors Lap in the pink limo, and any survivors participating in the lap will be entered to win a Survivors Gift Basket.
There will also be a Best Dressed Contest, where participants can represent the cancer ribbon of their choice for the chance to be the ‘best dressed’ adult or child.
At 7 p.m., there will be the Grand Prize Giveaway, where one lucky person will win a gift basket assembled by area businesses, valued at roughly $500.The event organizer, Stephanie Larson of Stylish Living, said she’s hoping for a nice turnout and some good weather at this year’s Girls Night Out in Grundy Center: “It’s a good cause, so I’m hoping we’ll get a lot of people coming through. In the past, we’ve raised anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000, and half that money will be staying right here in Grundy.”