Welcome to Braids in the Park™
Presented by Mercedes Styles Hair Collection
At Mercedes Styles Hair Collection, we believe that a hairstyle can do more than change the way you look—it can change the way you feel.
That's why we're excited to introduce the First Annual Braids in the Park™, a community event created to bring families together through beauty, confidence, service, and connection.
Braids in the Park was created with one purpose in mind: to serve our community while helping children, women, and men walk into the new school year feeling confident and refreshed. This is more than an event—it's the beginning of what we hope becomes a lasting tradition in Aurora, Illinois.
What to Expect
Throughout the day, you'll enjoy a fun, family-friendly atmosphere filled with professional braiding services, community partners, music, delicious food, exciting activities, and opportunities to connect with local businesses and organizations.
Our goal is to create an experience where every guest feels welcomed, valued, and celebrated.
Professional Express Braiding
Our Founding Crown Team will consist of six professional braiders who are committed to serving our community with excellence.
Each stylist will provide express braid services designed to be completed in approximately 30–60 minutes, allowing us to serve as many families as possible throughout the day.
Express Service Pricing
💖 2 Braids – $20
💖 4–6 Braids – $50
💖 8 Braids – $60
💖Braided Ponytails $70 (are approved as long as it abides in the express time frame)
💖Haircuts $10 - $15
Express styles only. Longer braid styles and specialty services can be booked directly with participating stylists after the event.
More Than Just Braids
Braids in the Park is designed to be an experience for the whole family.
Guests can enjoy:
🎶 Music and entertainment
🍿 Food and refreshments
🎨 Face painting
🛍️ Local vendors
🤝 Community organizations and resources
🎒 School supply and backpack donations (while supplies last)
📸 Photo opportunities
🎁 Giveaways and surprises throughout the day
Community First
One of the most important parts of Braids in the Park is giving back.
We're working alongside generous sponsors, local businesses, and community partners to help provide school supplies, backpacks, braiding hair, hair products, and other resources to support local families as they prepare for the new school year.
Every registration, sponsorship, volunteer, and donation helps us make a greater impact.
Why Braids in the Park was created
Braids in the Park™ was created from a heart for people who spend so much of their lives giving to others but rarely have someone pour back into them.
As a hairstylist, Mercedes Hatcher has had the privilege of serving hundreds of people over the years. Through every conversation behind the chair, she witnessed something deeper than hairstyles. She met hardworking mothers carrying the weight of their families, fathers doing everything they could to provide, children preparing for a new school year, and trying to balance keeping good grades, while trying to keep up with the trends and entrepreneurs working tirelessly to build their dreams.
She realized something…
Everyone needs someone to believe in them.
Everyone deserves to feel seen.
Everyone deserves to feel valued.
Braids in the Park was born from the belief that one act of kindness, one encouraging conversation,
one beautiful hairstyle, or one day of community can remind someone that they matter.
This isn’t just an event where people come to get their hair braided.
This is a place where confidence is restored.
Where families connect.
Where local businesses support one another.
Where beauty professionals stand together instead of competing against each other.
Where children leave smiling.
Where parents feel supported.
Where community becomes family.
When you attend Braids in the Park, you aren’t simply joining us for braids.
You’re joining a movement that believes confidence should be accessible, community should be celebrated, and success grows when we lift one another up.
Our six Founding Crown Team Stylists aren’t just providing hairstyles—they’re helping create an experience rooted in excellence, professionalism, compassion, and genuine care for every person who sits in their chair.
Our sponsors aren’t simply donating supplies—they’re investing in families.
Our volunteers aren’t just giving their time—they’re helping create lasting memories.
Every braid tells a story.
Every smile matters.
Every partnership makes a difference.
This is bigger than one day in the park.
This is the beginning of a tradition built on service, unity, generosity, and hope.
Welcome to Braids in the Park™.
Where beauty meets purpose.
Where community becomes family.
And where every person who walks through our gates is reminded that they are seen, they are valued, and they belong.
Presented by Mercedes Styles Hair Collection
