Southern Sweat: Our First SweatPassport Pilates Event in Connecticut

If you drove through Salem, Connecticut on August 30 and happened to pass a sea of baby blue, cowboy boots, Pilates mats, and iced coffee, you found Southern Sweat.

Our very first SweatPassport event.

I had thought about this day for so long, but actually standing there and watching 30+ people walk in wearing their blue sets, denim, cowboy boots, and little western details was completely different. The mats were lined up, gifts were waiting on each one, the weather somehow decided to cooperate, and people were actually showing up for this idea I had been talking about for months.

Also, I refused to check the weather the entire week leading up to it. I just decided it was going to be perfect because, quite frankly, it had to be.

Somehow, it was.

Why Southern Sweat?

Southern Sweat really started because I love Wicked Southern Coffee.

I've been going to Wicked Southern since before their coffee shop was even a coffee shop. Coming from a small town myself, I've always loved watching what they've built. They started as this small thing in the middle of nowhere Connecticut, and now I see their coffee all over my social media getting the love it deserves.

Their coffee is also phenomenal. Plain and simple.

So when I started thinking about where the first SweatPassport event could happen, Wicked Southern made sense. A country-inspired Pilates class in Salem felt fun without feeling forced, and I knew there was so much we could do with it beyond putting down some mats and teaching a class.

I wanted the whole morning to be part of why you came.

Picking out your outfit. Showing up somewhere you might not normally go for Pilates. Getting a really good workout in. Drinking a cutie little coffee afterward. Meeting someone new. Taking pictures. Hanging around instead of immediately getting in your car and leaving.

That was the idea.

A Sea of Blue and a Very SweatPassport Playlist

Baby blue was the dress code, and seeing how everyone interpreted it was easily one of my favorite parts.

Some people went full matching set. Some added denim. There were cowboy boots, western accessories, and even a custom cowboy-inspired vest.

I never wanted the dress code to mean everyone had to show up looking exactly the same. That's not fun. The point was to give everyone a theme and then see what they did with it!!

And they DID it.

Once everyone was settled onto their mats, we got into about 45 to 50 minutes of modern-inspired mat Pilates.

I always want my classes to feel approachable if you're newer to Pilates while still giving you somewhere to go if you want the extra challenge. You can stay exactly where you are or take the progression. Both count.

The playlist was probably the most accurate representation of my music taste possible. Classic country, country pop, regular pop, and some rap thrown in because why not??

Is that playlist for everyone? Probably not.

Do I still listen to it far too often? Absolutely.

At one point I looked out and saw people literally dancing in the middle of the workout.

I loved that.

If you're dancing between movements, laughing with the person next to you, and somehow also getting your ass kicked by Pilates, we're doing something right.

And Then Everyone Stayed

This might have been my favorite part of Southern Sweat.

The class ended, and almost immediately someone came up to me and started telling me what the class had meant to her.

I genuinely could have cried right there.

Then everyone started grabbing their mini Wicked Southern coffees, taking pictures, talking, sitting around their mats, and meeting people they hadn't come with.

Nobody was being rushed out because the next class needed the room. There wasn't that awkward moment where everyone rolls up their mat and immediately disappears.

We could just hang out.

One person had actually reached out to me the day before Southern Sweat because she had gotten unexpectedly injured and couldn't participate in the workout anymore. She still wanted to come.

So she came for everything after class.

I was trying to take in what 30+ people were doing at once, so I didn't see every interaction myself. Later, friends told me they watched other attendees introduce themselves to her and bring her into their conversations.

That one got me.

Because I can write "meet new people" on the SweatPassport website/socials all day long. Watching people actually do it is completely different.

And I have to give so much credit to everyone who came alone, too.

Trying a new workout is intimidating enough. Walking into an event by yourself where you don't know exactly what the day is going to look like takes guts. Then I watched people who had arrived alone talking, laughing, taking pictures, and posting together afterward.

That's the stuff I remember. THAT'S MY WHY!!

The Little Extras

When everyone arrived, there were gifts waiting on each mat from the brands that took a chance on our first event.

Hive Method Studios gifted everyone a complimentary class so they could keep trying new ways to move. We had Barebells protein bars, Lemonday drinks, Cure hydration packets provided by Onyx Glow IV, and $25 gift cards from Boss Babe Beauty.

After class, we went through everything together, and I loved watching people immediately start trying things. Some hadn't had Lemonday before and were opening them right there.

We also had raffles from Crowned Fit and Solana Sculpt, which I was really excited about because I want SweatPassport to introduce people to movement outside of our own events too.

Maybe you came to Southern Sweat for Pilates and discover another local studio you love because of it. That's a win.

And then, obviously, there was the coffee.

Wicked Southern minis after Pilates. I really don't need to overcomplicate that one. They were the perfect addition.

The People Who Helped Me Pull This Off

There is absolutely no version of this recap where I pretend I did Southern Sweat by myself.

Hannah Donais of Hannah Donais Photography has been there throughout this whole experience. Yes, she photographed the event, but calling her "the photographer" doesn't even begin to explain her role in getting Southern Sweat from an idea to an actual Sunday morning with 30+ people standing in front of us.

And because apparently planning my first event wasn't emotional enough, we also had my cousin Drew Archer of DArcherPics there capturing it on video.

I'm so glad we documented this one.

My sister Alyssa and Jilly helped us with set up/breakdown, my mom helped prep the gift bags, Allison made the balloon arch a WHOLE MOMENT, and my boyfriend Zach was there through all of it. He heard every idea (and there were lots) and every stress, helped with setup, breakdown, and approximately one million things in between. Having people I love show up for something I cared about this much meant everything.

I'm also incredibly grateful to Wicked Southern and every brand that said yes to the first SweatPassport event. There wasn't a long track record or a dozen past events I could point to yet.

They were saying yes to the idea.

We Sold Out in Six Days

This part still makes me smile.

Southern Sweat sold out in six days.

For our FIRST event.

I was watching the tickets go, go, go and absolutely buzzing. Then people started messaging me asking if there were more spots, if I could save them a ticket, if we were going to release more.

I couldn't even promise people I could hold one because they were going too fast.

There were people who wanted to be there and couldn't get in.

For something that had only existed in my head for so long, seeing other people get excited about it was wild.

Then I had to actually teach the thing.

The Moment It Felt Real

There was a point during class when I looked up from teaching and saw this entire sea of blue in front of me.

That was my holy shit, this is actually happening moment.

But I think everything really hit me afterward.

We cleaned everything up, I left Wicked Southern, and I went to the beach. I started reading the messages people had sent me after the event.

And I just sat there tearing up.

People told me it was their first time trying Pilates.

Someone told me Southern Sweat was her first group fitness class.

Someone shared that the class felt accessible for where she was in her fitness journey.

One attendee came up to me and shared part of her personal journey and told me she had felt like the strongest, best version of herself during class.

I was sitting on the beach reading these messages thinking, okay... we actually did this.

The Bottom Right Corner of My Vision Board

There's one other reason Southern Sweat is always going to be a big one for me.

I've put fitness-related things on my vision boards for years. This year, sitting in the bottom right corner, I put:

Host my first SweatPassport event.

I knew exactly where it was.

After Southern Sweat, I got to highlight it. Check. Done.

I did the damn thing.

But what I didn't know when I put that on my vision board was whether anyone else would care about the idea as much as I did.

Now I know.

Southern Sweat showed me that the type of space I'd been looking for was something I could actually create. We can work out hard and still have fun. You can show up alone. You can wear the cute outfit. You can meet people. You can dance in the middle of Pilates. You can stay for coffee afterward.

Working out can actually be something on your calendar that you're excited about.

And I'm just getting started.

So... Where Are We Sweating Next?

Southern Sweat was the first stamp in the SweatPassport, and I can officially say the next one is coming very very soon.

I’m not telling you where we’re headed just yet. Where’s the fun in that?

But if you made it all the way down here, I feel like you deserve the first clue.

PASSPORT STATUS: PENDING

NEXT DEPARTURE: 09.27.26

coffee, movement & a Sunday morning worth making plans for.

That’s all you’re getting from me for now.

Join the SweatPassport community to be the first to know when the next event drops.

Because if Southern Sweat sold out in six days, I wouldn't wait too long next time.

All my love,

Briana