This past weekend, the Spencer Pride commUnity center and its shop, Unity, officially opened it’s doors to the public. The Grand Opening celebration was intentionally timed to coincide with the annual Apple Butter Festival in Spencer.
The official ribbon-cutting ceremony, coordinated by the Owen County Chamber of Commerce, took place at 9 AM on Saturday. Although it had been raining all morning, the sky cleared in perfect time for the ceremony, which was very well attended by the public. Most of the Spencer Pride Board of Directors was in attendance, as was many of our loyal volunteers.
The Owen County Chamber of Commerce presented Spencer Pride president Jonathan Balash with a plaque to commemorate the event and to recognize the 10 years of service that Spencer Pride has provided to the community.
Immediately following the ribbon-cutting, excited attendees flooded into the center to explore the many fantastic items for sale and to learn about our new facility. The CommUnity Center remained quite crowded throughout the entire day. 5-8 Spencer Pride volunteers were present at all times. Thankfully, we have so many dedicated volunteers that most people were able to take shifts of 3-4 hours in length.
On Sunday the day started and finished rather slow, but this was not unexpected. Based on our experiences at the Apple Butter Festival in the past, Sunday is typically a low traffic day. That being said, we were quite busy mid-day.
Overall, we had nearly triple the number of attendees that we expected. We also exceeded our sales expectations. Individuals in attendance couldn’t stop complimenting our space and thanking us for what we have done for our community.
We are absolutely thrilled and grateful to our community for having embraced the opening of our commUnity center with such passion and excitement.