Dames of the District Create Derby Day in the District

This Saturday, May 7th, The Oregon District is celebrating The Kentucky Derby.Many of the business will host interactive games and races for guests to complete from 3pm-7pm. Some of the activities include:

Brim: Make your own lucky horseshoe
Lucky’s: Matchbox Car Races
Blind Bob’s: Slot Car Races
Tumbleweed: Mini Horse Races
Toxic: Adult Big Wheel Races
Trolley Stop: Wiener Dog Race (4pm)
Lily’s: Giant Jenga & Giant Connect Four
Gem City Tattoos: Magic Marker Tattoos

This event is intended highlight the independent nature of the Oregon District businesses and community through fun, sometimes silly, and often quirky activities.
Other Downtown Activities
Downtown Dayton will be hoping this weekend! In addition to The Oregon Districts’ Derby Day festivities, the Downtown Dayton Partnership is hosting their Downtown Housing Tour from 1pm to 5pm. Plus with college graduation and Mother’s Day, Downtown Dayton is the premiere destination for shopping, dining, and nightlife.

The Dames of the District
The Derby Day activities were organized by the Dames of the District, a newly-founded group made up of women who own businesses in the Oregon District. Their mission is to empower female leadership; act as resources for one another; promote the independent, locally-owned businesses of the Oregon District; and, provide the larger community with the vital perspectives offered by women business owners.

The group came together when Amelia O’Dowd, proprietress of BRIM, noticed the significant number of independent neighborhood businesses, either partially, or entirely owned by women. “When I started ‘Dames,’ I hand wrote invitations to all of the women business owners I could think of. I wrote five a day for a week. I knew there were a lot of us, but I didn’t realize how many until I wrote those invitations,” explained O’Dowd. “Getting all these women in a room — from people who just started to women who have been at it for decades — shifted all of our perspectives. We realized we were bigger. And if we didn’t know that we were such a big group, people outside the District definitely didn’t.”
The ‘Dames’ meet monthly and focus on programming and promotion for individual businesses and for the Oregon District as a whole.

Women-Owned Oregon District Businesses include*:
*not all business owners are ‘Dames’ participants