Women’s Expo at Bemidji’s Sanford Center Celebrates Women-Owned Businesses

The annual Women’s Expo at Bemidji’s Sanford Center was shut down for a few years during the pandemic, but it came back last weekend, marking the second time the event has taken place since 2019.

Mother’s Day is a time to spend with your mom and celebrate the women in your life, and so the women-focused event was a way to gather a variety of women-owned businesses in one place and create a makeshift shopping and information center.

“We just want to empower each and every one of us, and that’s kind of the mission as to why we bring this event to Bemidji, Minnesota, as well,” said Sanford Center Marketing Manager Lexi Mudrick, “It just gives a day to just kind of relax over Mother’s Day weekend.”

More than 45 vendors were at this year’s expo, and community members could walk around and have a relaxing talk-and-shop experience. With everything from lotions to baked goods to a pop-up thrift shop filled with local donations, the Women’s Expo had plenty for the several hundred shoppers throughout the day.

“I personally love engaging with the community,” added Mudrick. “I like talking to people. So when it comes to hearing preferences, opinions, feedback from any of the activities here in general, I do appreciate it. And I’m just glad to hear all the positive feedback that we’ve heard so far.”

On top of being a center for networking and empowerment, the Women’s Expo was also fundraising for a local nonprofit. 80% of the door entrance fees, as well as 100% of the sales from the pop-up thrift shop, went towards the Northern Minnesota Addiction Wellness Center.

“We are a 32-bed substance use disorder and mental health co-occurring residential treatment center and it’s a high-intensity [facility],” explained Northern Minnesota Addiction Wellness Center owner and CEO Margot Kelsey.

Part of the reason the wellness center is able to provide these services is due to donations from the community and fundraisers such as the Women’s Expo.

“We are here for the people of Bemidji and the surrounding communities, so it’s important for us to be able to get the help that we need,” said Kelsey. “It’s all based off of usually what the counties or Tribal entities can pay so that we really open things up so that people can get the help that they need.”

Now that the expo is back in service, the Sanford Center is planning on keeping the tradition alive and bringing it back to Bemidji again next Mother’s Day weekend.