The St. Clair Shores Nine-Mack Merchants Association invites women of all ages to attend its inaugural Galentine’s Day event on Thursday, Feb. 13.

Galentine’s Day celebrates female friendships and recognizes the importance of those relationships and the support, joy and empowerment that they offer.

Twenty different businesses are participating in the event, each of them offering something special for attendees.

Design your own cocktail at Cache; decorate a mini heart-shaped cheesecake at the Cheesecake Shoppe; paint a wine glass and create your own wine charm at Philly’s Cheesesteaks; make your own terrarium or paint a taper candle at Rustic Root; and build your own bouquet at St. Clair Tile & Stone.

“We wanted people to come and discover our area, enjoy an evening out with their friends, and get to know the small businesses in downtown St. Clair Shores,” said Anna Casali, Nine-Mack Merchants Association secretary.

Casali emphasizes this event is not a social district, so Greater Mack Avenue will not be closed and all of the fun happens inside of the various businesses.

Some businesses are offering special discounts or free gifts: half-off yoga classes for ladies at the Shores Yoga Studio; nail and hair styling specials at Shear Trends Salon; 20% off at Kristi’s Hallmark plus a free gift for the first 50 women to spend $10 or more; health and wellness specials at Greater Chiropractic and Timeless Aesthetics; a mocktail bar at Great Lakes Ace Hardware; a Mad Hatter’s Patch Bar popup at Connie’s Children’s Shop; 20% off in-stock items at Comfortably Yours; a gift with a $20 purchase at Circare; Party Adventure has a Valentine’s Day themed photo station; and complimentary goodie bags from Casali School of Dance, which will be available at Roy O’Brien Ford.

Shores Inn is raffling off a Michael Kors purse; Rondo has a gift basket raffle going at Philly’s Cheesesteak; Firehouse Pub has a basket raffle; and Caffe Far Bella has a special Valentine’s basket raffle.

“This is the first time we have done this event and we are very excited,” said Casali. “We were overwhelmed by the amount of businesses that wanted to participate.”

Just to add a little more fun to the evening, attendees can get a bingo card and add a sticker to it for each business visited. Full cards can be dropped at Philly’s Cheesesteak to be entered into a drawing for a prize to be determined, or you can fill just one traditional bingo row and get $5 in Nine-Mack Merchandise bucks that can be spent at any participating business.

Bingo cards are available at any of the 20 businesses.

“Our goal is to remind people we have a very strong small business community here that does a lot for the city,” said Casali.

“This will be a really fun night and a great chance to bring people to the area and do something nice for the community.”

Nine-Mack Galentine’s Day is Thursday, Feb. 13 from 5-8 p.m.