ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
International Women’s Day will be recognized in just a couple weeks, and the Liberal Recreation Center is looking to join in.
The 2025 Women's Day Luncheon will be from 12 to 1:30 p.m. Friday, March 7 in the City Commission Chambers at the Liberal Recreation Center at 950 S. Grant Ave. The event is $10, and in order to register, participants can call the Recreation Center at (620) 417-8150 or register online. Guest speakers will be City Manager Scarlette Diseker and Sunflower Elementary School Principal Ashley Lehnert.
Last year was the inaugural event, and coordinator Christi Starr said she was very pleased with how it turned out.
“Last year was our first Women's Day Luncheon, and we ended up with a great turnout, so I think this is something we can look forward to hosting every year,” Starr said. “The main focus for this year's event is female empowerment and how we can be better in the community in terms of leadership and confidence, and there will also be some focus on how to maintain a good work-life balance. Last year, we had Candi Garcia as a guest speaker along with the Seward County United Way director, and they both did an amazing job. We had about 45 women who came, and it was a great group, and we also had some local businesses who donated some items for door prizes, which made everything even more awesome. Everyone left that day just feeling really good and really uplifted, and it was just a great way to bring women in the community together. With last year, we were hoping for about 50 women to come, and we ended up getting really close to that, and that's our goal for this year as well, and we'd love to see the luncheon grow every year. If you weren't able to attend last year but want to attend this year, I would highly encourage you to come out, because it's going to be a great event.”
Starr said she and her staff are excited to see how this year’s event ends up.
“This year will be all about confidence-building and helping maintain a good work-life balance. Last year was more about what the community could do for women, and this year we'll talk more about how to be a women in business while balancing everything else in life,” Starr said. “Year to year, we plan on finding a couple key ideas or concepts to focus on in terms of discussion, and we have several women in leadership roles here in town who could be amazing speakers and give a lot of great advice. Last year ended up going so well, and everyone left so happy and uplifted, and we were really happy with the overall result. All the women knew each other and got to know each other in a bit of a different way away from their work, and everyone ended up learning a lot. The event itself isn't really very long, but you'll leave with a lot of confidence and happiness.”
With the success of last year’s event, Starr said she hopes to build on that this time around.
“We had a really great turnout last year, and I hope to see that again this time around. We would love to see 50 to 60 women, or even more, and we've already gotten nearly 20 or so women registered to come so far, which I think is amazing,” Starr said. “This event is designed to reach women in the community and make them feel welcome, no matter who they are. All women are welcome to come, and we'll be happy to see you there. I want women to know how they can support other women in leadership roles in the community and also how to be confident leaders. I also hope everyone takes away some good advice in terms of balancing their career, personal life and other obligations without burning out, because life can throw a lot out sometimes. It's important for women to be around other women and get to know each other and learn from each other. And we'll actually be celebrating this luncheon the day before International Women's Day, which is amazing. We want this to be a good time for everyone and an event here at the Recreation Center that doesn't really revolve around sports like a lot of our other programs. I hope we see women of all ages come to this event because everyone can learn something.”
Overall, Starr said, it should be another successful luncheon event.
“I'm very grateful for our guest speakers, Scarlette and Ashley, because they're taking time out of their busy schedules to come and talk to us and be part of this event, and they're both great figures in the community, so I can't thank them enough for their support,” Starr said. “It's going to be a great and fun event for everyone, so come and celebrate International Women's Day with us, get a great meal, and possibly walk away with some great door prizes. We hope to see you there!”
