Token Jewelry, a handmade jewelry shop in downtown Eau Claire, hosted a free celebration event for its 17th anniversary. 

The event took place from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22, at Token Jewelry. 

According to Token Jewelry’s website, this celebratory event offered a free swag bag of goodies to the first 50 customers. Complimentary tarot readings and refreshments were also available.

At the anniversary event, sales associates offered the option to draw a discount card from a pile of varying discounts. There were also site-wide discounts present on Token Jewelry’s website as a part of this celebration.  

Sarah Willger, the founder and designer of Token Jewelry, said the business started as a hobby when she started experimenting with gemstones.

“It started out as something I did on the side and I didn’t know that it would become this,” Willger said. “I started with an Etsy shop, then a website, and then I had a space in Artisan Forge for a few years.”

According to Willger, she purchased the 1886 building that houses Token Jewelry right before the pandemic and renovated the space for over a year before reopening. 

Willger said that the jewelry she makes is suitable and fashionable for all ages and tastes. She also said UW-Eau Claire students are always welcome in Token Jewelry.  

“It’s important to me to have sustainable practices while also being affordable and just be really accessible for everyone and welcoming to everyone,” Willger said. 

Ana Forden, the fulfillment coordinator at Token Jewelry, said the new space offers much more room for additional activities and more customers. 

“We’ve also been able to expand our team, so it went from two or three of us to a big group of us and now we have people doing more specific jobs,” Forden said. 

Forden said she was excited for the anniversary and said it was incredible to see how much Token Jewelry has grown over the past few years.

“It was super busy the first year, but nowhere near as busy as it was today,” Forden said.

Savanna Gruncke, sales associate and marketing team member at Token Jewelry, said the 17th-anniversary event was not only a celebration of the business, but also the traditions and family that have been made along the journey. 

“I feel like Sarah has had a lot of hurdles and obstacles in getting here,” Gruncke said. “It’s incredibly impressive that Sarah can juggle being a very busy mom and a business owner.”

Gruncke said the success of the anniversary event and said she felt the plans for the event went very smoothly. 

“I think we had a great turnout and it’s all been really fun with the little treats and the tarot reader, which I think people really enjoyed,” Gruncke said.

Willger said that there will be multiple events coming up in November, including Black Friday and Small Business Saturday events. 

More information about Token Jewelry’s location and hours can be found on its website. Check out Token Jewelry’s Instagram for news about the upcoming events in November. 

O’Brien can be reached at [email protected].