There are some events where I walk in, look around and think, “How fun is it that we get to do this?” Our Mahj, Sip + Shop at Kendra Scott Jacksonville was definitely one of those mornings.
On Sunday, October 18, we brought Mahjong in the Sun to Kendra Scott at St. Johns Town Center and transformed the store into a mahjong lounge for the morning. We had 20 players join us for a sold-out morning of mahjong, sipping and shopping, with bites from Paris Baguette.
Seeing mahjong tables surrounded by all of the beautiful Kendra Scott jewelry was pretty incredible!
Bringing Mahjong Into More Places Around Jacksonville
One of my favorite parts of what we're building with Mahjong in the Sun is finding new places for our community to gather and play.
I love taking mahjong beyond the places you might traditionally expect to find a game and working with local businesses to create experiences around it. Whether we're playing at a brewery, a retailer, a resort or someone's home, the mahjong table gives people an immediate reason to sit down, connect and have fun together.
That's exactly what happened at Kendra Scott.
And personally, one of the best parts of the morning was getting to sit down and play with my daughter, Clara. Getting to build this community while also sharing the game with her made an already special morning even better.
147 Scramblers and Counting
Our Kendra Scott event also happened right in the middle of an exciting Fall Season for our Northeast Florida Bambird Scramble.
We now have 147 players throughout Jacksonville, Ponte Vedra and St. Augustine participating in our local Scramble!
The Bambird Scramble is a national social mahjong league with more than 90 cities participating across the country, and Mahjong in the Sun has the honor of leading our Northeast Florida Scramble.
I've loved putting our own local spin on it.
We've brought businesses into the fun through weekly prizes, giveaways, special events and places for our Scramblers to meet and play. Tyler Cummings Allstate has been awarding a Mahjong Co. tile set to our top scorer each week, 2nd Bay Brewing has provided gift cards and welcomed our players for Mahj Tuesdays, and Really Good Beer Stop Nocatee has become home to our Sunset Mahj Wednesdays.
Kendra Scott was another perfect example of how we can connect this growing community with brands and businesses in a way that feels natural and FUN.
And We're Just Getting Started
Next up is our Holiday Bambird Scramble Mini Season!
Registration opens November 2, and we'll be playing from November 30 through January 3.
For the Holiday Season, one of my goals is to get even more of our Jacksonville and Ponte Vedra business community involved.
If you own or work with a restaurant, brewery, hotel, retailer or other local business that would love to have our Scramblers come play mahjong at your location — we want to hear from you!
We're also looking for businesses interested in providing fun giveaways and prizes for our players throughout the season.
I want our Scramblers to discover new places around our community while they're doing something they already love: getting together to mahj.
Mahjong Is Having Its Moment
Everywhere I look right now, national and local media are talking about the growth of mahjong.
Having spent the past seven years working in pickleball, it's fascinating to watch some of those same themes happening around another game that brings people together — while also recognizing and respecting that mahjong itself has an incredibly rich history that goes back generations.
It's an honor to play a small part in building on that momentum here in the Jacksonville area.
For me, this has always been about connecting people. If we can get more people around a mahjong table, help new friendships form and support some great local businesses along the way, that's a pretty special thing to be part of.
Thank you to the entire Kendra Scott Jacksonville team for welcoming us into your beautiful store, Paris Baguette for the bites, our Mahjong in the Sun team for making these events happen, and all 20 of our mahj'ers who joined us.
I can't wait to see where we set up the mahjong tables next!
— Laura Gainor
Founder, Mahjong in the Sun + Pickleball in the Sun