If you needed a haircut last weekend, Bliss Aveda Salon was squeezing its clients in at any time of the day — from midnight to midnight.
To celebrate 24 years of business, Sandra Cocetti, the creative director and owner of Bliss, kept the shop open for 24 hours straight on Saturday, Feb. 24.
The salon in Virgil was booking in clients every 45 minutes and donated all its proceeds to two Niagara charities.
“I just wanted to give back and enjoy and have fun doing what I love to do,” Cocetti told The Lake Report.
The two beneficiaries of the salon marathon were Red Roof Retreat, a Niagara-on-the-Lake organization that offers respite care and recreational activities for people with special needs, and Community Crew, which provides thousands of lunches to children in schools across Niagara.
Cocetti said she also helped out the two charities in another way on Saturday: more than 16 hours into her day, she gave a haircut to Steffanie Bjorgan, Red Roof’s founder, and Bobbie Corcoran, a volunteer with Community Crew.
She took clients from midnight on Saturday to 11:59 p.m. with a bit of extra help during the store’s usual hours of operation.
“There’s been lots of espresso,” she joked.
Luckily, after 24 years, hairstyling is a second nature to Cocetti who was able to fly through appointments without any sleep.
And she was certainly not alone, with team members stepping up to work for long shifts with the Saturday crew.
“We had a lot of men’s cuts,” Cocetti joked.
Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa and Coun. Tim Balasiuk both stopped in to support the cause and get haircuts around 2 p.m.
It was a fun-filled day, with everyone on board and helping out, Cocetti said.
Katy Herron, fundraising manager for Community Crew, took in the excitement and celebrated Cocetti’s 24 years of business.
“We have to get creative when it comes to fundraising. And I find the best fundraising now is the fundraising where it involves something that you might be doing anyway,” Herron said.
After 24 hours of fully booked services, Bliss raised more than $2,000, just with proceeds from Cocetti’s services.
The salon will continue accepting donations, ballots to win gift baskets and peanut-free snacks in support of the two organizations into mid-March.
With the salon’s reputation in town, Herron said the large turnout to support the two charities was no surprise.
