THEY SAY home is wherever your heart is; for Jenny Pettay, her heart is in Manchester. New to town, Pettay has fallen in love with the community. To show her appreciation and support for the local economy, she recently held the “I Love Manchester” event that welcomed local vendors and food trucks to participate in a fun day. A raffle was also held where patrons could win prizes.
Pettay said she fell in love with Manchester thanks to her husband and a crazy house search.
“My husband’s family is from Tullahoma,” she explained. “We were looking for a place during the crazy markets, which is actually one of the reasons I ended up becoming a licensed realtor. But then we found our dream home in Manchester, and we’re so happy here.”
Now a relator with her own business, Jenny Pettay Homes, she was smitten with Manchester and enjoyed all it offers. Upon attending a conference, she was struck with the idea of hosting an event highlighting local businesses.
“I went to a conference and got inspired,” she said. “Originally, I thought about hosting spring pictures, but when I started looking at venues, I thought there was an opportunity to do more and get together with other businesses. Maybe we could come together to help each other out. From there, it just evolved.”
Pettay said that upon joining the Beauties in Business group, she was further connected with supportive women interested in participating in the event. She added that her sister-in-law and small business owner, Samantha Zimmerman, inspired her to see the event come to fruition.
“She hosts amazing events in the community, so I wanted to do something like that because they are always fun,” said Pettay. “She was a huge inspiration for it. I wanted to do something where everyone could have fun and help each other out. It was also a way of introducing myself because I want to get more involved and really become a part of the community.”
Pettay said the event was a success, and she achieved her goal of highlighting local businesses.
“I got a lot of positive feedback,” she explained. “Several people came and expressed to me how much fun they had and enjoyed the variety of vendors. They could discover new businesses, some that they were unaware of. For the new businesses, I was excited to be able to give them that platform to get their names out to the public.”
Pettay said she plans to continue the event to help further showcase small businesses and all she loves about Manchester.
“I would really love to turn this into an annual event,” she said. “It’s so important to support local. When we spend our money locally, our money stays in our community. Honestly, like we have everything we need right here in our community, but sometimes it takes a little bit of exposure to know what’s available to us. I hope, with events like this, we’ll be able to focus on all of the great things that Manchester has to offer.” GN
