Girls Night Out going “camping” for International Women’s Day

February 26, 2026 · 0 Comments

Get all the fun of camping next week without all the hassle of packing and braving the Canadian winter when NewRoads Automotive Group partners with Girls Inc. of York Region for the annual NewRoads Girls Night Out.

Hosted each year to coincide with International Women’s Day, this year’s Girls Night Out is set for Thursday, March 5, from 6 – 9 p.m. at Newmarket’s NewRoads Performing Arts Centre.

It’s a night “celebrating the strength, creativity, and impact of women in our community,” with vendor tables featuring products from local women-owned businesses, an inspiring panel discussion, and a camp-themed menu created by A Million Mouthfuls Catering.

“This is our 15^th year and we’re really excited to celebrate International Women’s Day,” says NewRoads’ Rachel Hawtin. “We do it every year on the first Thursday of March to commemorate International Women’s Day. This year we’re calling it Girls Night Out Goes to Camp, which we thought would be a really nice theme to tie in with Girls Inc. because they are all about summer camps, celebrating girls in our community, and providing them with really amazing opportunities at their camps.

“This is our fourth year working with Girls Inc. of York Region and we’ve really loved the partnership with them. They really bring so much great energy to the event as well. As this year is all about camp, we have a really amazing ‘elevated camp’ menu, we have a badge-system that we’re employing through the evening where you can collect some badges, and there’s going to be amazing drinks as well! Then we have our vendor market that are all women-owned businesses. That’s a big part of the evening – celebrating our local small businesses that are all women-owned. We have a lot of returning booths and we have some new people as well, which is really great.”

Returning for 2026 after a few years’ absence is a panel of local women entrepreneurs.

Set to take the stage are Shabi Monzavi of Market Candle Company, Lauren Francis-Smithson, founder of Lo+Co, Lynnette Lanning, co-founder of Neighbour Media, and Anne-Marie Million, founder of A Million Mouthfuls.

“They have such a presence in our community,” says Hawtin. “I hope people leave feeling empowered, celebrated, and I hope they feel inspired. This is a great opportunity to bring someone in your life who is a female out to the event for a really fun night out. There’s shopping, and who doesn’t love shopping? You’re supporting a great cause, you’re going to have delicious food and drinks, and you’re going to have a quick little inspirational moment in the theatre. It’s short and sweet, but I think it’s impactful.”

For more information on this year’s NewRoads Girls Night Out, including tickets, visit www.newroads.ca/girls-night.

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter