Women ages 21 and older are invited to an end-of-summer caftail party on Wednesday at Le Depot Brasserie.
“Caftailing is a combination of caftans and cocktails,” said Katie Zamarra, the event’s organizer. “It’s a thing in the South. When the kids are in camp or have just gone back to college and school, mothers will pick up the phone and call their girlfriends to join them for cocktails and hang out by the pool in the afternoon before the chaos starts for dinnertime.”
The event at Le Depot is also a fundraiser for Peace House, a tradition that started last year, according to Zamarra, who is also the restaurant’s co-operator.
“Last summer, Southern Living magazine did an article and coined the ‘caftailing’ tradition,” she said. “So I thought it would be a fun event for us. I called some girlfriends and asked if they wanted to do this, and they said, ‘We’re in.’”
Zamarra thought the event would also serve as a great way to raise funds for the anti-domestic violence nonprofit.
“I’m super passionate about Peace House,” she said. “My daughter, Ellie, and I volunteered there when she was in junior high school.”
Peace House was one of the first nonprofits Zamarra discovered after moving to Park City when Ellie was in seventh grade.
“We didn’t know a lot of people then, and a friend suggested we get involved with the National Charity League,” said Zamarra, who is also founder of public relations firm Venue Communications. “So we joined the Summit County chapter, and Peace House hit home with us. (Although) Ellie started her second year of college, this is something we wanted to keep going.”
With Peace House in mind, Zamarra called Sally Tauber, the nonprofit’s director of community engagement and major gifts.
“She was all in,” Zamarra said.
Zamarra’s pitch thrilled Tauber.
“I’m so grateful for Katie’s interest (in) and support of Peace House,” Tauber said. “We’re so happy Katie chose us, and this has been a great partnership.”
The funds will benefit Peace House’s programming, including transitional housing, emergency shelter and sexual abuse recovery services, to name a few.
In an assessment for 2025 to 2026, Peace House reported that 18 sexual-assault victims received advocacy during medical care and forensic exams, while 157 adult and youth survivors received comprehensive sexual assault services.
The nonprofit’s emergency shelter took in 237 adults and children for a total of 6,467 nights of provided safety, and transitional housing served 35 adults and children for a total of 8,289 nights.
In addition, the assessment reported Peace House provided 1,962 hours of personalized case management, with 169 survivors receiving legal advocacy.
It also reported children and adults received 1,367 hours of clinical therapy, and that 1,538 individuals received support and resources from the nonprofit’s 24-hour emergency helpline.
“We are serving 35% to 40% more than we have in the past,” Tauber said. “The requests for services across the board have increased, and the shelter is always full and constantly turning and turning.”
The times have been challenging for Peace House due to many reasons, according to Tauber.
“The world has been a little disheveled, and that creates chaos,” she said. “Also, the number of people in our county has increased. Domestic violence doesn’t know any demographics. It can affect anyone from anywhere. As we added childcare, there are no barriers for our services.”
Peace House is working on new concepts and ideas such as scattered-site housing for transition, according to Tauber.
“After you leave Peace House, you can go to these different places in the community and continue to receive services,” she said. “We are so happy to report that in the last two years, 100% of our transitional housing clients have moved into their own safe housing.”
After the success of last year’s caftailing event, Zamarra wanted to up the ante this time around.
“We had many of the community women ask if we were going to do it again this year, and I talked with Sally about making it bigger,” she said. “So, this year, the Collective Park City boutique got super excited and ordered a whole inventory of Caftans to sell, and RE Park City consignment store will turn around and sell them just for the party.”
Miss DJ Lux will provide some music, and Peace House Executive Director Kendra Wyckoff will give a short presentation.
“We’ll have southern food from deviled eggs to cheese crackers and sandwiches,” Zamarra said.
All attendees to the ladies-only event must have a ticket, which can be purchased by visiting tinyurl.com/bdfpbbcs.
“Tickets price includes two beverages, the food and access to the party,” Zamarra said. “We tried to make ticket prices accessible for everyone, and we need to close sales Monday or Tuesday.”
Zamarra created an Instagram page to keep people updated.
“Last year we had women in their 20s as well as mothers and grandmothers,” she said. “We want the women who come to the event to walk away with an awareness of what is going on. We want them to meet new girlfriends and have a fun time, but we also want them to know there’s a purpose to this.”
Caftailing Fundraiser for Peace House
- When: 1-4 p.m. Wednesday
- Where: Le Depot Brasserie, 660 Main St.
- Ages: 21 and older
- Web: tinyurl.com/bdfpbbcs and peacehouse.org
If you or someone you know has experienced interpersonal violence and/or sexual assault, call the Peace House helpline that is open 24 hours a day at 1-800-647-9161.