International Women’s Day event returns March 4 in Perry
International Women’s Day will again be celebrated in Perry after a two-year hiatus.
This year’s event will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, March 4 at La Poste, 1219 Warford St., Perry. Perry last celebrated International Women’s Day in 2020 before the annual event was canceled the past two years because of COVID-19.
Organizer Carol Cavanaugh is looking forward to seeing the event, which is celebrated around the world on March 8, return to Perry.
“When we moved from Kazakhstan back here to Iowa, I missed celebrating International Women’s Day and so I invited several ladies to come to our house for coffee,” Cavanaugh said of the first informal gathering in 2017. “I greeted them with a Happy International Women’s Day because most of the people that I talked to had never heard of International Women’s Day.”
The first International Women’s Day event was held at La Poste in 2018 and continued through 2020 before returning in 2023.
“Without the help of the people in Perry, this would never have come about,” Cavanaugh said. “I was very pleased and I’m still very pleased with the people who step up and volunteer to help.”
This year’s event will feature a variety of speakers, including Pat McPherson and her aunt Pat (Bryan) Girton, Monica Peitz and her daughter Louise Alitz, Patti Naylor and four students from the World Link Inc. exchange program. The students, from Ukraine and Georgia, will talk about how International Women’s Day is celebrated in their countries.
The event will also feature selections from the Perry High School Girls Choir.
“I’m really looking forward to getting younger people involved. That’s why I’m pleased the exchange students will be there and the choir from the high school,” Cavanaugh said. “I want people to realize that through International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating past achievements and contributions that women have made to society, but also looking to the future.”
Doors open at 9:15 a.m. and while there is no fee to attend, free-will donations are welcome. Pastries, coffee and tea will be served and door prizes will be handed out.
Cavanaugh encourages local and area residents to attend this year’s International Women’s Day celebration in Perry.
“I’m looking forward to hopefully continuing this as an annual event in Perry. I do think there are all kinds of people locally that have wonderful stories to share,” she said.
The day also brings together women from around the world.
“Even though we may never travel internationally, I still think there is a connection between women everywhere,” Cavanaugh said. “(International Women’s Day) is a way for women, one day out of the year, to just celebrate and think about other women and connect.”
This article originally appeared on Perry Chief: International Women’s Day event returns March 4 in Perry
