In Niagara-on-the-Lake, nothing of substance seems to get accomplished without the efforts of a few men — and an army of women.

That’s not a put down of men, but rather a reflection of the incredible role women play here in NOTL.

As we said a year ago, when we first conceived the idea of producing a special feature section celebrating the contributions and the roles of women in NOTL, this demographic group is indeed a force in the community.

Our simple idea last year grew out of what we did in 2022.

At that time we produced a small package of stories for International Women’s Day about immigrant women, our town council’s women and then-mayor, and a young dynamo, Maya Webster, who had convinced the province to cover the cost of glucose monitors for many people with diabetes.

All worthy of celebrating and highlighting.

Last year, to kick it up a notch, we reached out to women in the community hoping to get the attention of 20 or 30 notable movers and shakers — community contributors — and take a photo of them on Queen Street in front of the town’s iconic clock tower cenotaph?

They’d be representative of the women of NOTL.

Well, that army of women we mentioned earlier quickly grew to more than 100 and the result was mini-biographies of scores of women all wrapped up in an award-winning print and online presentation, video and mass photograph taken in the middle of Queen Street.

As we noted afterward, an overwhelming sentiment expressed by women on that sunny March morning a year ago was, “Let’s do this again next year!”

So, we are again inviting the women of NOTL to participate in The Lake Report’s celebration of … you.

In an email circulated a week or so ago to all the women to whom we’d reached out a year ago, we invited them — and anyone they knew — to come out again, at a new location, to celebrate International Women’s Day a few days early.

If you weren’t on that email list, our apologies. We are expanding it. But please come out on Monday, March 4.

In keeping with the themes of inclusion and celebration, please invite any and all women you know in NOTL — and ask them to confirm via email at kevin@niagaranow.com (just so we have some gauge as to the crowd size).

Friends, family, women you work with, people in organizations with which you are involved. The more, the merrier!

Whether 50 or 100 or 150 women are able to come out, we consider it will be time well spent.

That week, the regular edition of The Lake Report will include a special feature section to commemorate International Women’s Day.

We’re focusing on women in education and women in business — and we’ve received dozens of nominations from the community. We’ll feature some of those women in the souvenir section.

As well, we are including a limited amount of paid advertising in the section. A portion of the proceeds from those advertisements will be donated to two women-focused charities: Gillian’s Place women’s shelter and NOTL’s own Pink Pearl Foundation, which supports women dealing with cancer.

So, please join us as we assemble near the NOTL gazebo in Queen’s Royal Park in Old Town on Monday, March 4, 2024, at 10 a.m. to again take a mass photo to celebrate the work and contributions of the women of Niagara-on-the-Lake.

We hope you can be there.