This weekend, the Stimulus party will celebrate, with Scene, a year of women’s parties growing and thriving in Philadelphia.
Both monthly parties were born out of a desire for something the Philadelphia bar scene just didn’t offer lesbian and bisexual women. Stimulus creators Amber Hikes and Morgan Levine found they could envision what they wanted in a party.
“We felt like a lot of the events that were out a year ago, around the time that we started, were the same,” Hikes said. “We really wanted to diversify the space that women had for their nightlife. We came in with different ideals. Morgan’s passion and focus was creating a really classy space for women. She wanted something different from your regular bar where everybody is in T-shirts and jeans. For me, the classy thing was important: to be able to dress up when you’re going out. That’s something our heterosexual counterparts get to do on a regular basis. That was important, but more so for me, it was having a diverse space where white women, women of color, bio-guys, transguys and people in between can have a good time.”
Both Tracy Buchholz, founder of the Scene parties, and Hikes said they had to jump hurdles to get their parties up and running.
“Some of the challenges I’ve had are venue issues,” Buchholz said. “We had to move around a few times before we found a good home with Voyeur. It’s definitely been picking up. There’s definitely a resurgence of women wanting to go out and do different things in the city. I think you always have to find ways to brand your party and come up with new things. At least for the Scene, once I found the new home at Voyeur, it was bringing in different vendors to showcase — be it T-shirts, sex toys, jewelry — just bringing in different components, not just a dance party.”
Hikes said it was a challenge to get people to attend an event they weren’t accustomed to.
“Getting the word out was a struggle and positioning ourselves as something different from what was out there was difficult because people were used to the same bars and parties that they always went to,” she said. “We’re really trying to do something different. We’re not just a party: We’re a movement. We’re trying to get out there and get people to pick up on this idea and accept change. It’s difficult to pull people out of the Gayborhood. It’s difficult to move them to accept different things in the community.”
Yet, once they got the party going, it caught on quick.
“We were expecting 100 people and we were going to be ecstatic at that,” Hikes said. “But we got about 200-250 people at the first party. The next one we got 300-350. Then 400. By the time we were in October, we hit about 600. The thing I always hear is, ‘Where are all these beautiful women coming from?’”
To celebrate Stimulus’ first anniversary, Hikes has planned parties for the entire weekend starting May 21 at Marathon Grill, 929 Walnut St., and extending it to Rehoboth Beach May 22 and 23.
Buchholz is also taking Scene to the shore.
“We’ve expanded the Scene into Rehoboth for summer parties,” Buchholz said. “I think this year we’re going to start doing a lot more work with nonprofits.”
Buchholz said the Scene gives women something different.
“Each party kind of brings its own flavor. We all start out wanting to throw a party but each party ends up being geared toward different people, and I think that’s through how we market it.”
Check out Stimulus, 10 p.m.-2 a.m. May 21 at Marathon Grill. For more information, look up Stimulus on Facebook.
After heading to Rehoboth, Scene returns to Philadelphia June 26 at Voyeur, 1221 St. James St. For more information, search for Scene Philly on Facebook.
Larry Nichols can be reached at [email protected].