Meet our Holiday Shoppe partners, Malloy Events!
This year, we’re partnering with Malloy Events on the Holiday Shoppe at the Loft for all of your shopping needs. They are also decorating the Historic Theater’s stage for our brand new Stage Door Cabaret Series! Ashleigh Tucker Pollock, chief of staff, chatted with Kate Malloy about the Holiday Shoppe collaboration, event planning during a pandemic, and the joy of the holidays.
Malloy Events specializes in premiere event planning. Tell us about your scope of work.
Ha! Well in a non-pandemic year, we produce over 100 events a year. We are kind of a one-stop shop for our clients and that really helps to support our mission. We want to help our clients share their why through the production and design of each experience we create. Their why is the goal or the reason they’re hosting an event. We are a unique company within the event world because we offer both the AV and lighting needs for an event as well as design elements. We have a full flower shop, carpentry shop, a warehouse full of furniture and props, and a full client management department. We do a lot of corporate conferences and not-for-profit fundraisers as well as some community events and social events.
What can people expect when they come into the Shoppe?
We will be offering pick-up for pre-ordered arrangements as well as a number of grab-and-go pieces for those people who want to window shop a bit. We are also going to be creating custom wreaths and garlands for indoor or outdoor use as well as a few event-related gift-giving items such as candle sets, vases, and other great hostess gifts. In addition, you will have some great Music Hall merchandise to choose from and the entire environment is going to transport you to a winter wonderland. We are going to decorate the space with props, lighting, and all sorts of design magic. The best part is at night when the Shoppe is closed, the light show really takes over for people to enjoy outside!
Folks can pre-order floral arrangements! Tell us about the floral ordering process and what options will be available.
Yes! There are a few options for ordering flowers. The most customizable would be to pre-order your arrangements. We are going to offer a few different styles of arrangements—classic, rustic, whimsical, etc and then you can tell us how small or large you want the arrangements to be. Pre-ordering takes a few days for the flowers to arrive at our shop to build for you, but you get to curate the look and feel of the arrangement!
What is your favorite thing about the holidays?
My favorite things about the holidays are the traditions we have created within our friends and family. I bake cookies once a year with a dear friend and we have scheduled this cookie-a-thon for fifteen years and running! I start listening to holiday music right around the 1st of November and I go straight to the old classics I grew up with. I also started adding cardamom to my coffee during this season, which really makes me feel festive.
We’ve loved partnering with Malloy on events and decor. You’re also decorating the Stage Door Cabaret series! Can you tell us more about this partnership?
We are so excited to be partnering with your team this holiday season! We really wanted to bring the holiday season to our community since so many events have been canceled or postponed and we thought creating a little holiday nook in downtown Portsmouth would be a great idea. We love working with fellow creatives and when we started brainstorming ideas, things just came together. We are really excited to help design and produce the SDC series as well. It’s always an incredible design opportunity when you’re working at the Historic Theater.
You’ve been a supporter of The Music Hall for the past few years. What was your favorite performance?
My very favorite performance was Lucius a few years ago. They blew my mind with their musicianship, how they interacted with each other, how creative they were. One of my all-time favorite shows ever really.
Dare we ask: how has the pandemic affected the event and entertainment business?
It’s okay to talk about it, and really I think more people should know how difficult it has been to survive the pandemic. Our industry functions when people gather to learn, commune, and/or celebrate together, and the pandemic has stopped that completely worldwide. Hundreds of our fellow industry family members have already closed their doors, we have had to make really tough decisions to reduce our team size temporarily, and we have turned 100% to producing digital events. Virtual is a way people can get their messaging out to their constituents but there’s a learning curve involved and we spend a lot of time working with our clients on the planning and preparations for each event to make sure they are as successful as possible for each organization we work with.
Be sure to check out Malloy Events‘ festive offerings at the Holiday Shoppe at The Loft this season, open Nov. 27 – Dec. 23. Order your custom floral arrangement ahead for pick-up by going to our virtual shoppe page!