Dirty Girl Adventures celebrates their 2nd Anniversary at Compass Point

Dirty Girl Adventures celebrates their 2nd Anniversary at Compass Point, the retail/event venue at 800 North Kansas Avenue in the NOTO Arts and Entertainment District. Dirty Girl Adventures credits hard work, dedication and their loyal customers with keeping them afloat during a building fire, the 2019 flood of the rivers and reservoirs, and the 2020 Corona Virus pandemic.

Denise Selbee-Koch and Jennifer Woerner, co-owners of Compass Point home of Dirty Girl Adventures, agree that the first two years of business in their location have been difficult.

"Although Dirty Girl Adventures has been a business for eight years, we had always dreamed of having a physical location. We made that dream come true with the purchase of our property, but then having a structure fire within the first month of owning Compass Point was really hard,” says Denise. "We had to rethink our opening timeline and prioritize. The Topeka Fire department saved our building. Then a whole team of contractors, insurance agents, friends and family helped us deal with the aftermath of the fire and open our doors for live music events and sale of outdoor gear by the First Friday in April 2019."

Then, flooding in the Summer of 2019 kept Dirty Girl Adventures from accessing the Kansas River for kayaking, and it was difficult to get on area lakes for events as well.

"Kayaking events have been a big source of our small business income over the last seven years," says Jennifer. "Our customers were understanding and kept supporting us, signing up for events, and just kept showing up."

After all that, the women really thought 2020 was going to be their year. They travelled to Guatemala for a service adventure trip in February of 2020, just as whispers of the coronavirus were beginning. Then in March of 2020, everything changed for Dirty Girl Adventures, just like it did for everyone else.

"A lot of what we do is in groups, we stopped doing classes. We stopped live music events. We closed the doors to Compass Point. It was a really hard time, not knowing what was going to happen," says Jennifer.

Denise points out different ways the duo tried to compensate, "We offered private, socially-distanced shopping appointments, curbside pickup, more online shopping. We started offering some of our class content online."

Denise taught “Introduction to Kayaking” online via zoom that spring, and participants signed up. Dirty Girl Adventures started having some events outside during the summer of 2020, and the business partners noted very little change in numbers of participants from previous years.

"People still wanted to get outside, they wanted to find safe ways to connect and be around others, and being outside was the safest way to do that. We hiked and kayaked throughout last summer, and implemented safety strategies to make everyone feel comfortable," says Denise.

"It's about creating an environment or an experience that values everyone. We always hope to make the least comfortable more comfortable and the most comfortable more cautious. Turns out that applies to helping people in the pandemic as much as it does to outdoor adventure. Our creed and practices have always noted that everyone is different, but we're all here for this adventure and we can be supportive and understanding of each other. People trust us to create that environment because it's what we've always done," notes Jennifer.

The owners of Compass Point are still striving to create that safe and comfortable environment, and are excited to be able to celebrate their 2nd Anniversary in NOTO with customers this First Friday, April 2nd.

"We just want to take an opportunity to say "Thank You" for sticking with us! The support of everyone over the last two years has kept us going," says Denise.

There will be 20% off retail storewide, with the exception of kayaks and paddles. The store and the outdoor courtyard will open at 11 am, with Flavor Wagon 785 set up for food. Live music with Cryin' Out Loud begins around 6 pm. Customers are encouraged to buy tickets in advance at dirtygirladventures.com, but tickets will be available at the gate until the event is sold out.