Adventure Dinner and Atria Collective, formerly known as WomenSafe, hosted their annual Galentine’s Day Celebration, a culmination of a long standing partnership that raises funds for Atria Collective. Sixteen women-owned businesses set up shop at Vergennes Opera on Feb. 17 from 5 to 8 p.m. Any gender was welcome to come celebrate.
Attendees shopped at the various vendors, had food from Louisa Sienko’s Homemade with Love, drinks made by the Adventure Dinner staff and bought raffle tickets which funded Atria Collective in support of their mission to end gender-based violence in Addison County.
The raffle grand prizes included an overnight stay for two at Hotel Vermont in Burlington, a $200 dollar Adventure Dinner Gift card and a $100 Haymaker Gift Card.
This Galentine’s event first began in 2021, and has taken place every year since. The collaboration between Atria Collective and Sas Stewart, the founder of Adventure Dinner, dates back several years prior.
Before founding Adventure Dinner in 2020, Stewart co-founded Stonecutter Spirits, a Vermont spirits company, in 2014. Following a few years at Stonecutter, Stewart came up with the idea of hosting an event celebrating friendship, specifically female and non-binary friendship.
“In a world where we’re so often pitted against one another, there are these beautiful parts of celebrating the love and support we can have for one another. That was where the idea [for the original event] came from, and I wanted it to be something that benefited our community,” Stewart said.
Partnering with Atria Collective was a natural next step toward this goal. Stewart sought a partnership that aligned with the principle of supporting women and the most vulnerable people in the community, and also wanted to draw more attention and support to Atria Collective throughout Vermont.
The collaboration has endured, and ultimately led to the Galentine’s Celebration.
“For this type of event, we really play host and organizer,” Stewart said. “We curate the people who are vendors at the event, we try to reach out to lots of different types of small businesses owners, and we actually bring in someone else to do the food component.”
She added that Adventure Dinner’s biggest contribution to the event came in the form of helping to organize and publicize. “Our network is so different from Atria’s network, so it’s more powerful if we focus on harnessing the community that we’re a part of to bring attention to what Atria is doing,” Stewart said.
Elyssa Boiselle, executive director of Atria Collective, echoed that idea.
“Adventure Dinner does most of the leg work by hosting the event and we at Atria Collective are so incredibly appreciative to be beneficiaries! It is a great fundraiser for us, and a great way to do outreach and share all the important work Atria Collective does,” Boiselle wrote in an email to The Campus.
Atria Collective set a fundraising goal of $4,000 for the Galentine’s Celebration. Over 140 people attended, and businesses included Alkame Co., a Burlington-based herbal tonics and elixirs business, Burlington-based Cravn Jewelry and Panton-based Wiggly Goat Farm.
Every ticket purchased for the event gave buyers entry into the raffle. Those who could not attend but wanted to participate could also purchase raffle tickets online.
Caroline Corrente, the owner of Haymaker Bun Company, is a current member of the Atria Collective Board, and has previously participated in other events with the collective.
Corrente explained that Stewart is a friend of hers, and got her involved in the collaboration several years ago. She took a larger role at Atria Collective when she joined the board in the summer of 2022, shortly after Roe v. Wade was struck down.
“I had a lot of rage and frustration over that,” Corrente told The Campus. “I figure whenever I have feelings like that, it’s best to do something about it. I wanted to get involved in an organization in the community that serves women and supports females.”
The board has monthly meetings and responsibilities, including finance committees, planning yearly events like Galentines and annual appeals for donations around the holidays.
Corrente said she loves seeing the 150-200 women who show up and celebrate love, friendship and entrepreneurship.
“My favorite part is just seeing how many amazing, unique and innovative women that are vending there,” she said. “It’s cool to see how many diverse, women owned businesses are just right here in Addison County.”
For Stewart, the event has its own special energy. “There is a joy, and a celebration, and a relaxation that is unparalleled,” she said.
Boinselle echoed Stewart’s sentiments about the spirit of a femme-dominated space.“We love that this event supports women owned businesses that are femme identifying and femme loving. It is a great atmosphere to celebrate friendship and love for all people,” she said.
Julia Pepper '24 (she/her) is the Senior Local Editor.
She previously served as a Local Editor. She is a Psychology major and French minor. This past spring she studied in Paris. She spent the summer interning at home in New York City, putting her journalistic cold calling skills to use at her internship doing outreach with senior citizens. In her free time she enjoys reading and petting cats.
