On Thursday, April 25th, Lettering Works celebrated three years in business with a special Anniversary Ribbon Cutting at The Nest Coworking in Peoria’s Warehouse District. The event had cake, snacks, a short presentation, special guests, the ribbon cutting itself, and a special live performance from local singer-songwriter duo Projekts.

Friends, clients, Peoria Chamber Ambassadors, and community members filled the Nest to support Lettering Works and celebrate the many creative and business accomplishments this business has seen in its first three years. I said a few words about how my business truly started when I was a student at Bradley and won $10,000 in startup funding and how my focus on the Peoria community led to many great relationships and opportunities to work with passionate small business owners and local artists.

I highlighted several of my favorite passion projects - including Just my Type of Lettering, Peoria postcards, 100 Days of Peoria, Hand Letter West Main, Unpolished Press, and Steph’s Stickers - via a slideshow filled with graphics as well as photos from Sarah Waldo of Violet and Ivy Photography.

I gave a special shoutout to Marty Wombacher of Meanwhile Back in Peoria who will be doing a blog on the event next week, Steph and Barbie Perry of Steph’s Stickers who have been the inspiration for my latest passion project, and Sarah Waldo of Violet and Ivy Photography for her incredible dedication to capturing all of Lettering Works’ moments and products. Steph sold a record 28 stickers at the event and was so excited to see such incredible support from all who attended.

I asked Steph to join me in cutting the ribbon, which was followed by many smiles and cheer. Following the formal ribbon cutting, Projekts were introduced alongside their new logo created by Lettering Works. They performed two original songs and won over the hearts of everyone in the room. Peoria has so much incredible talent and I have been so fortunate to be able to highlight and celebrate some of it through my business.

We did some fun giveaways of a copy of Just my Type of Lettering, 100 Days of Peoria book and poster set, a Hello Peoria t-shirt, and set of Peoria products. Everyone had the opportunity to take home a Hello Peoria sticker and new Lettering Works pen as well. Many enjoyed chatting after the formal activities and we passed around pieces of the special Lettering Works cake, provided by Sam’s Club, which featured our new logo.

I cannot thank everyone enough for their incredible support of not only this event and event but everything my business has done and worked on over these past three years. I am so grateful to this community for providing my start in business and allowing me to grow as a person and business owner through many wonderful experiences and opportunities.