HERSTORY MAMA

HERE'S WHAT THE BELLEVILLE NEWS DEMOCRAT HAS TO SAY ABOUT A PAST HERSTORY WEEKEND EVENT!!

Herstory Weekend Lets Women Unwind in Downtown Belleville

Girls just want to have fun. This weekend, you can't miss if you attend Herstory Weekend on Friday and Saturday nights in downtown Belleville.

Where else could you enjoy an atmosphere that is a combination of funky, retro and sexy, with lots of live music, dance, art and fun? Women can not only unwind with a massage, imbibe, eat and enjoy a tarot-card reading, but they can bring their own gently used eclectic clothes to exchange with others. And it's all for a good cause.

"It just gets bigger and better every year, " said Kim Vrooman one of the organizers and who will perform with the band EarthSol. "We raise about a thousand dollars a year and this year, our goal is to raise twice as much so we can backdate the scholarship a year."

Ready to shed that winter ponytail? Participants can donate a minimum 8 inches of hair to Beautiful Lengths to be made into wigs for cancer patients. A hair designer from the Green Apple Salon will be on site to give all those who sign up a new look.

The clothing swap is another chance to help a good cause.

HERE'S WHAT THE BND SAID About 2008:



Herstory Weekend cranks up Women's History Month celebration
BY SUZANNE BOYLE
News-Democrat

Hard to imagine they could stuff more events into an already jampacked weekend, but Kim Vrooman and friends have done just that for their annual Herstory event Friday and Saturday night.

Still high off of last year's inaugural -- and successful -- attempt to raise money to help fund a single parents scholarship at Southwestern Illinois College, this year's celebration of National Women's History Month is being cranked up a notch.

"We raised a couple thousand (dollars), " said Vrooman, adding that about 500 attended the two-day event. "We had enough to fund a scholarship, " plus a little extra to help pay for the cost of the event.

The signature atmosphere of the Herstory Weekend is a combination funky, retro and sexy, with lots of live music, film, dance and fun. Women can not only unwind with a massage, imbibe, eat and enjoy a tarot-card reading, but bring their own gently used eclectic clothes to exchange with others.

"That's always been a great part of the weekend, " said Vrooman. Garments that remain at the end of the weekend will be donated to a women's charity resale shop.

Drea Stein, a deejay at KDHX-FM, will be stopping by Saturday night to have her hair cut for Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program, which collects a minimum 8 inches of hair to be made into wigs for cancer patients. Three other women will join Drea, and others are welcome. A stylist will be on hand to do the snipping and give volunteers a great new look for free.

Other creative endeavors include a record number of artists this year: 15 women showing their ceramics, jewelry, painting, sculpture and more, including Michelle Hudgins' photography, Danielle Payne's computer art and oil on canvas and Kathie Harnacker's jewelry and paper art.

And finally, rockin' the house will be music ranging from the ever-popular Uncle Albert and EarthSol to comedy/acoustic duo East End Girls and a quartet of country-folk-rock chicks called MaidRite, to name a few.

HERE'S

HERE'S WHAT THE BELLEVILLE NEWS DEMOCRAT HAD TO SAY ABOUT 2007's EVENT:

Herstory Weekend
BY ROGER SCHLUETER
News-Democrat

Women, get ready to party hearty: Ladies Night Out is turning into Ladies Weekend Out in downtown Belleville.
Last year, organizers Amy Cyrus and Kim Vrooman saw that their second annual salute to Women's History Month was just too jampacked with activities and entertainment to stuff into just one night.
"We squeezed so much into one night, and it was, like, we could have done so much more, " said Vrooman. "I mean, I really felt that last year it was, like, bursting at the seams. This will give people more of a chance to come."
That's not the only major change, either. After last year's event, which included a clothing exchange, they wound up with so many leftovers and money that they donated it to the Shelter Shop for the Violence Prevention Center of Southwestern Illinois.
So, this year, they're billing the event as a benefit, hoping to expand their charitable work.
"We're actually setting up a scholarship out at (Southwestern Illinois College), " said Vrooman, who was an English teacher at SWIC before her infant son came along. "I'm hoping that we'll generate enough to set up the next two or three years worth so that we can ensure that it stays going for a little while. Our goal is to have a really nice-sized scholarship for some single parents."
And, Vrooman stresses, this is no male-bashing soiree. If they're smart, men should plan to attend, she says.
"In fact, last year we had a bunch of really fun guys come, " she said. "It was really fun. Everyone kind of got involved, and I'd love to see that happen again. And, I think the smart guys come because there are so many good-looking, fabulous women."
In addition, they'll be treated to six hours of nonstop entertainment, starting with music, dance and comedy on Friday and Saturday nights and wrapping up with another Ground Floor film night on Sunday.

If you're "hip" to the latest dance crazes, you won't be disappointed with such groups as the Ivy Divine Burlesque of St. Louis and Belleville's own Hips Afire! Belly Dance. Also coming will be the popular Gravity Plays Favorites, of St. Louis.
"They're basically burlesque dancers -- really talented, " Vrooman said. "There's a new trend of, like, pole-dancing -- kind of bringing back the classic striptease, which isn't based necessarily on nakedness, but on performance. They're kind of appealing to that old Betty Page kind of performance arts. Really interesting."
On Sunday night, the focus will shift to the silver screen with both commercial and locally made films by and about women. Included are Adrienne Spindler's "The Chicken and the Egg" and "The Walk, " Kristie Guttmann's "You Can Call Me Sweetheart, " and "Smile Pretty, " a film about young girls in beauty pageants.
Throughout the month, the Ground Floor also will be showing off a number of new art exhibits, including photos by Michelle Hudgins of Green Wall Studio in Belleville and work by Novei Beige and Abbey Lydia. Rebecca Ryan will do double duty both on stage at 11:30 p.m. Friday and with an exhibit of collages.
Don't forget to bring in those clothes you've pushed to the dark corners of your closet. You'll be able to trade your old clothes, shoes, handbags, purses belts and jewelry for other gently used items.
"And there's going to be handicrafts, there's going to be massage, there's going to be tarot cards, there's going to be all kinds of yummy cocktails, " Vrooman said. "I mean, we have so much stuff, we could actually do the entire month."
Maybe next year.

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