ToyBox Consulting & Management today announced Golden Hour Unboxed, a free, all-ages evening celebrating Black entrepreneurship in Bellevue and across the Eastside. The event takes place at the Bellevue Botanical Garden, 12001 Main St, on Sunday, August 23, 2026. Doors open at 5:30 PM; programming runs 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Admission is free.
The evening carries a back-to-school drive alongside the celebration. Pack-the-Box is a community school-supply drive held on site, collecting and distributing supplies for local students in the last stretch before the first day of class. Attendees can bring supplies, pack boxes, and take them home the same night.
The business side of the evening is the Micro Speed Pitching Showcase — an open-mic pitch, two minutes per person, for Black-owned Eastside businesses in front of a live audience of their own neighbors. Around it: live performance, storytelling from Black founders, and a twilight social as the light goes down over the garden. The evening is hosted by Besa Gordon — storyteller, media personality, and founder of Besa Gordon Media. Primo's Bellevue is donating the catering labor; SYNC Seattle is the event partner.
Golden Hour Unboxed is part of the City of Bellevue's Cross-Cultural Center without Walls (CCCWW) — a pilot program within the City's Diversity Advantage Initiative, anchored in the Diversity Advantage Plan 2025–2035. It is one of twenty-seven Bellevue-based organizations producing more than seventy cross-cultural events citywide in 2026 through the program.
Golden Hour Unboxed is produced by ToyBox Consulting & Management, a Black-owned Bellevue consultancy in its 17th year, with fiscal sponsorship from Eastside for All. The event is endorsed by the NAACP, the Bellevue Chamber, and SplashForward. It is free to attend and open to all ages.
Event at a glance
- What
- Golden Hour Unboxed — a free evening celebrating Black entrepreneurship, with the Pack-the-Box back-to-school supply drive
- When
- Sunday, August 23, 2026 · Doors 5:30 PM · Program 6:00–9:00 PM
- Where
- Bellevue Botanical Garden, 12001 Main St, Bellevue, WA 98005
- Cost
- Free · all ages · family-welcome
- Who
- Presented by ToyBox Consulting & Management; hosted by Besa Gordon; fiscal sponsor Eastside for All; part of the City of Bellevue's Cross-Cultural Center without Walls
- RSVP
- goldenhourunboxed.com
Visuals available
This event is built for a camera. It runs 6:00–9:00 PM in late August, which puts the last stretch of the program in full golden-hour light inside the Bellevue Botanical Garden, holding through the twilight social.
Shootable moments: performers in the golden light; volunteers and families packing boxes at the Pack-the-Box school-supply drive; Black business owners pitching live at the Micro Speed Pitching Showcase; families moving through the garden at dusk.
Crews are welcome for all or part of the evening. Interviews with Katoya Palmer, host Besa Gordon, participating business owners, and Pack-the-Box volunteers can be arranged on site or in advance. Four downloadable flyers are below. Media contact below.
Press & Media Assets
All three flyers are public-facing and cleared for use. Share freely; credit Golden Hour Unboxed / ToyBox Consulting & Management. High-resolution originals and headshots are available on request from the media contact below.
1 · Event Flyer
Full program at a glance — portrait, print- and social-ready.
2 · Meet Your Host — Besa Gordon
Host announcement. Portrait (1080×1350) and story (1080×1920).
3 · Save-the-Date Flyer
Portrait flyer for print, newsletters, and social.
About ToyBox Consulting & Management
ToyBox Consulting & Management is a Black-owned, Bellevue-based consultancy in its 17th year, founded by Katoya R. Palmer, working at the intersection of community, equity, and execution. Katoya serves on the boards of three Bellevue civic institutions: the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, SplashForward, and The Sophia Way. ToyBox is one of twenty-seven local organizations awarded 2026 programming funding through the City of Bellevue's Cross-Cultural Center without Walls. Golden Hour Unboxed is fiscally sponsored by Eastside for All.
About the Cross-Cultural Center without Walls
The Cross-Cultural Center without Walls (CCCWW) is a pilot program of the City of Bellevue, funded through the City's Diversity Advantage Initiative. CCCWW supports local organizations in hosting events that bring people from different backgrounds together around shared intercultural experiences. The program is anchored in the Diversity Advantage Plan 2025–2035, the City's current ten-year DEI strategic plan, and traces its origins to the City's 2014 Diversity Advantage vision: "Bellevue welcomes the world. Our diversity is our strength. We embrace the future while respecting our past."
For program details, RSVP, FAQ, parking, and partner credits, visit goldenhourunboxed.com.
Press Contact
Katoya R. Palmer · Founder, ToyBox Consulting & Management
katoya@toyboxconsulting.net · goldenhourunboxed.com
For the full press kit — high-resolution flyer, brand assets, headshots, and interview availability — please email the contact above. A second release carrying the full run of show will follow on August 5, 2026.