Say good-bye to Black Friday and hello to SPARKLE Friday, thanks to the Williamsburg, Va.-based Quirks of Art, who took an unconventional approach to what’s largely known as the busiest shopping day of the year.
What did this American handcrafted art gallery and shop do that was so outrageous on the day after Thanksgiving?
It was simple. They closed.
“We decided that we wanted more, and our customers deserved better, out of this holiday season,” said Quirks of Art "chick in charge" Jenn Raines. “This year, we bucked the trend by closing our doors. Instead, we spent the day spreading good cheer in our beloved community.”
The day of sparkle culminated in a massive food drive at Quirks of Art’s location on High Street to benefit the 'Feed our Future' backpack program and help feed the 117 local elementary school students they serve that live in food-insecure households.
Here’s the skinny on how and where the team from Quirks of Art spread sparkle and cheer.
STOP ONE: Quirks of Art on High Street to pick up all the goodies they'd need for the day.
STOP TWO: Colonial Sports, who made the custom “sparkle is the new black: t-shirts for what will likely become the annual Sparkle Friday mission.
STOP THREE: Delivered coffee and tea to the Hospice House of Williamsburg for their family kitchen and donated books and games for their living room area.
STOP FOUR: Visited the resident center at Riverside Health System’s Patriot’s Colony continuing care retirement community and brought some sparkle to a 93-year-old volunteer with a random bracelet gift and to the front desk receptionist by delivering flowers for them.
STOP FIVE: Who doesn’t love a good cupcake? Extraordinary Cupcakes donated their delicious treats to the sparkle cause and the Quirks of Art team picked them up, headed to Merchant’s Square and offered cupcakes and random gifts to, as Raines said, “LOTS of people.”
STOP SIX: The bus station, where they passed out cupcakes.
STOP SEVEN: More cupcakes and words of thanks were delivered to the Williamsburg Fire Station, thanking all the men and women there for their service.
STOP EIGHT: Ran into ZPizza, who donated three extra large pizzas for the cause and took them to the volunteers working that day at the Heritage Humane Society.
STOP NINE: Delivered flowers and random gifts to residents of the Brookdale Retirement Village, including a sweet 103-year-old.
STOP TEN: Brought friends at Paint on Pottery a chocolate treat.
STOP ELEVEN: Used donations that friends and customers made throughout the week for the food drive to buy food before heading back to Quirks of Art to open up, not for customers, but for the food drive.
“With only a week of planning, we had no idea if anyone would even show up,” Raines said. “But they did, by the car-full, and it was amazing. The folks from the 'Feed our Future' backpack program were blown away by the TONS of food they received to help feed the 117 local elementary school students enrolled in their program that live in food-insecure households.”
To learn more about Quirks of Art, Sparkle Friday or their other Williamsburg community programs that spread good cheer, visit them online here: http://www.kinksandquirks.com/
Photos courtesy of Quirks of Art.