(From left) Faith Augustino, Joely Augustino and Kreggan Scharnatta stand together at Avara Garden Centre in downtown Medicine Hat on Monday. -- NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
lthomson@medicinehatnews.com
Two local businesses are teaming up to throw a gala in September that highlights the support that Medicine Hat businesses have shown one another through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kreggan Scharnatta, landscape designer and sales and marketing manager for Avara Garden Centre, and Joely Augustino, who started Fig & Olive Charcuterie with her daughter in January 2021, are throwing their first “Better Together Gala” on Sept.11. Ticket presales start this Friday on EventBrite.
Augustino says she started Fig & Olive, a Hat-exclusive charcuterie and grazing company during a “time when the world was kind of sad and quiet” as a result of COVID-19.
“With restaurants and things like that shutting down, we decided we were going to bring it to (the people), and they were actually taking our grazing boards and having virtual date nights with their family that they weren’t able to see, so we knew we were doing something right,” explains Augustino.
Augustino saw the new Avara Garden Centre downtown and loved it. She wanted to find a way to use it to support the community and small businesses within the city.
“So for that reason, the Better Together Gala was started,” said Augustino. “We don’t need to be by ourselves to thrive in this community, we’re actually better together. We love supporting local. We love businesses that have really great integrity and people behind them.”
Scharnatta and Augustino thought of the name when reflecting on everything local businesses have come through since COVID hit.
“We all supported each other,” said Scharnatta. “I know I supported local so much during lockdown – local businesses and local restaurants, and that’s what I wanted to give back to. Here’s the platform that we can all use… We can all come together and appreciate each other and what we do and what we’ve all gone through the past 18 months.”
Tickets to the Better Together Gala are $80 per person with just 80 tickets available. It will be a white attire event, held at the Avara Garden Centre downtown. Gates open at 7 p.m. and the event starts at 7:30 p.m. The night will include live music, wine tasting from Spirit Hills Winery, beer tasting from Travois and charcuterie cones created by Fig & Olive. There will also be an auction with everything from local businesses, including hotel stays, date nights and local cafe and restaurants and other offerings.
“There’s so many in Medicine Hat, so reach out! Don’t be scared,” said Scharnatta. “Reach out to myself or Joely on Fig & Olive’s page, the more the merrier! The more we can sell for Sanare in the auction would be fantastic.”
Half of the proceeds from the Better Together Gala will go to the Sanare Centre, “a supportive place in southeastern Alberta for those who experience sexual, domestic and personal violence and trauma.” (sanarecentre.ca)
Augustino said the Sanare Centre was very busy with calls during COVID and that the “stats on sexual abuse and trauma throughout COVID would make you gasp.”
Purchasing an $80 ticket will also allow the holder to cash in on a two-for-one wine tour with Spirit Hills Winery. The duo also rented out the Mezz across the street so the party can extend beyond 11 p.m.
“White attire, downtown Avara Garden Centre, twinkly lights at night, jazz music playing, auctions, beer tasting, wine tasting; there’s so much going on at this and 50% of those proceeds are going to Sanare,” said Augustino. It’s going back to our community, so we are really excited about it.”
Watch the social media accounts of both Avara Garden Centre and Fig & Olive Charcuterie for more information on the event, ticket sales and an upcoming ticket giveaway.
