Business and Professional Women annual convention

A gathering of 62 women business owners from all over Washington took place at the Coast Wenatchee Center Hotel May 19 - 21. Officially it was billed as the 96th State Conference of the Business and Professional Women, but regardless of gender, ideas flew, money changed hands and mergers happened - at least intellectually.
The conference was subtitled "Stepping Out! Professionally" and featured two days plus of official organizational meetings and educational seminars.
Especially noteworthy was the debut of a new feature at BPW conventions - the Market Place Expo, open to the public for the first time. It offered a variety of local and "imported" goods by vendors from Quincy, Port Orchard, Okanogan, Cashmere and of course, Wenatchee.
Expo Chairwoman Sherrie Funston said, "This is the first time we ever opened up our Market Place to the public so it will be interesting to see how it goes." She said 23 vendors signed up for the 2017 event.
BPW representatives from Eastside, (WVC) Campus, Enumclaw, Issaquah Sno-Valley, North Sound, Port Orchard, Renton, Republic, South Puget Sound, Southwest Seattle and the host chapter all gave reports.
2017 marked the final year of State President Susan Lipston's two-year tenure and she thanked "each and every member for making these past two years fun, inspiring and great."