An annual gathering of ladies who love Lilly Pulitzer will bring a flurry of brightly colored clothes to Palm Beach this week.

The Pink Retreat runs from June 20-23 and includes stops on the island — where the brand’s eponymous founder sold her first colorful shift dress — and West Palm Beach, said founder and organizer Tosha Williams.

This year’s event will be bigger than ever, with 500 registered attendees and Discover The Palm Beaches, the county’s official tourism marketing agency, as the presenting sponsor, Williams said. It coincides with the brand’s 65th anniversary, which Lilly Pulitzer is celebrating this year with new collaborations and collections.

“A lot of women who came previously, they’re bringing sisters and moms and friends with them,” she said. “I’m excited for the continuation of the relationship building.”

Williams is from the Washington, D.C., area but now lives in Tennessee. She founded the event as a gathering for friends from Facebook groups dedicated to the brand.

From the first Pink Retreat’s simple schedule in 2017 with about 100 attendees, the event has grown into a multiday celebration of the colorful lifestyle for which Lilly Pulitzer is known.

“Our destination has the honor of hosting The Pink Retreat year after year,” said Kelly Cavers, chief sales officer of Discover The Palm Beaches. “Our vibrant blend of people, cultures and colorful coastal towns that welcome everyone make The Palm Beaches the perfect destination to host this ultimate girl’s getaway, where women can reconnect and share their love for fashion and friendship.”

This year, the convention features a lineup of activities that include a walking tour of Worth Avenue, cookie-making classes at Ganache Bakery, catamaran rides, journaling lessons, West Palm Beach food tours, croquet lessons, make-your-own mermaid mosaics, Latin and Caribbean dance classes, tassel-making with local fashion designer Amanda Perna and a silent disco.

Punctuating the four-day affair are some of the signature events for which The Pink Retreat has become so well-known: A welcome party Thursday night is sponsored by West Palm Beach and the Downtown Development Authority; Lilly Pulitzer technical design manager Linda Marie Iem will discuss the latest collection and details in a talk; and the Orrico sisters of C. Orrico on South County Road will host two talks to share their memories of Lilly Pulitzer and life in Palm Beach.

Also, the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum will host a Gilded Age-style afternoon tea, where attendees don Lilly Pulitzer dresses and wear fascinators while sipping the museum’s Whitehall Special Blend tea and eating tea sandwiches, scones and sweets.

“Afternoon tea is an absolute staple,” Williams said. The museum doesn’t typically offer tea service in the off-season, but opens for The Pink Retreat, she said. “That’s pretty special.”

The Gardens Mall will host a ladies night, and the weekend will wrap up with two more signature events: The Pink Party at the National Croquet Center, and a farewell brunch at the Art Gallery of Camilla Webster, both in West Palm Beach.

The Pink Retreat draws women from around the country and from a range of backgrounds, making it a perfect place to get away from an increasingly polarized world, Williams said. “We can come together no matter what you believe or how you vote,” she said. “It’s just a weekend where we can let our hair down and have a good time.”

The jump in registration for Pink Retreat from last year is part of a rebuilding effort Williams undertook following the COVID-19 pandemic, she said. Discover The Palm Beaches did a lot of marketing and the convention also received a boost from word-of-mouth support from past attendees, Williams said.

Some of the new activities at this year’s Pink Retreat — including the dance classes — are designed to bring more of the flavor of South Florida to participants, she said. “It adds more diversity to their world, and more flavor and more vibrancy,” Williams said. “I think it’s really important for them to see and touch and smell and experience the different cultural aspects of South Florida.”

Williams is proud of the inclusive space she’s created at The Pink Retreat.

“There’s women of all shapes, sizes, colors, sexual orientation that feel comfortable, and I think that there’s a lot of to be proud of in that,” she said.

The diversity happened organically, Williams said.

“I think because I’m a Black woman doing in this in the Lilly space, that is traditionally mostly white women, a lot of women felt comfortable coming out of the Lilly closet, if you will,” she said.

In her traditionally Black spaces, the brand was seen as “country club,” or “bougie,” she said.

“I feel good in the colors,” she noted. “The colors bring sunshine, and I’m just going to do me. I think a lot of other people, other ethnicities might feel the same way. I can’t speak for them, but I think that because they see a woman of color, it’s like, ‘I’m gonna be welcome,'” at The Pink Retreat.

The representation, both in the brand and in the retreat, matters, Williams said.

“I like that women can come to The Pink Retreat and see themselves represented in that way,” she said. “I think that’s pretty amazing.”

Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Pink Retreat to bring 500 Lilly Pulitzer lovers to Palm Beach