HoCo Holler!

NPR's Click and Clack (the Tappet Brothers) have the "Shameless Commerce Division" of Car Talk.

Today, I am instituting the "HoCo Holler", my version of highlighting local businesses, at Village Green/Town Squared. Call it Shameless Hometown Heralding, if you will.  (Or think of something better?)

Last Saturday, mac and I hosted a bridal shower for @sommeilbienivre.  We had a guest list of fifteen and house too small in which to entertain them. So,  I reached out to the folks at The Second Chance Saloon in the Oakland Mills Village Center. Since I use their dining room several times a year for "A Little Lunch Music" children's events, I am familiar with the space, the menu, and the staff. Oh yeah, and I hang out there. Like, a lot.

I met with manager Jacquie Ramsey to set up the event and plan a menu.  She got back to me promptly with a list of prices.  We would have the entire space to ourselves from 2-4 for no charge; our only expenses would be for food and gratuity. She even offered to let us chose from their XM/Sirius channels to provide just the right music for the event. We chose "Siriusly Sinatra", a channel which we felt would be compatible with our "Breakfast at Tiffany's" bridal shower theme.

For the desserts and favors, we chose Linda's Bakery on Snowden. mac was happy to come along to place the order, probably because we picked out a few pastries to eat on the way home--a chocolate eclair and a small apple tart--delicious. I brought photographs of what I wanted from my bridal shower Pinterest Board. Linda's was able to do everything we wanted, and even asked for us to send along the photos in an email so that they could match the colors accurately!

We chose vanilla and chocolate cupcakes decorated to look like Tiffany gift boxes, chocolate chip meringues, and Tiffany-blue vanilla macarons to use as our party favors. When I arrived on the day of the shower, a staff member stopped everything to allow me to inspect our purchases. Then another staffer volunteered to carry everything to my car, even going so far as to recommend how to place them so they wouldn't get damaged on the car ride home.

To sum up:  the day of the shower went beautifully.  The Second Chance pulled off everything flawlessly--attentive service, delicious food, great crooning by Sinatra...and the desserts by Linda were delicious.  I did order too much food, so we invited the guys down at the end to help us out.  And I didn't realize that Tiffany blue frosting might give guests an exciting blue lipstick look, but that added to the fun.

A special shout-out to Dave Bittner of Pixel Workshop and Hocomojo, for lending us the piece de resistance for our event:

And Dave--Audrey is doing well and we are going to return her, I promise.

Do you have a HoCo business that deserves a Holler?  Share in the Comments Section below.

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