Some of the merchandise for sale at the Minnesota State Fair needs little explanation.
Then there’s the Go Girl. “The Go Girl is a product that’s been designed for women that allows them to go to the bathroom standing up,” explains the salesperson in the state fair grandstand. “So no more hovering, no more worrying about it running down your leg, it’s just really a neat product.”
If snickers follow the sales pitch, as they often do, that’s fine with Sarah Dillon, the Edina mom who in January relaunched and rebranded under the Go Girl name, a Minnetonka physician’s 22-year-old silicone funnel design for a female urination device.
“We all gotta go, and we’ve all popped the squat too many times,” says Dillon whose company now carries the slogan, “Don’t take life sitting down.”
“We’re off to war, we’re hunting, we’re camping, we’re traveling, we’re climbing mountains,” reasons Dillion, “but we also have to go to the bathroom and it’s always been a production for us to have to do that.”
Dillon recommends that women practice in the shower at first to make sure their Go Girl is properly positioned. “If it’s sealed you will not dribble at all,” she says.
The product sells for six dollars and can be cleaned and reused indefinitely.
“I’m excited,” laughs Loranda McLeefe after purchasing three Go Girls at the State Fair booth. “I live in the woods, I’m going to New York for two weeks and now I can pee in the alley with the best of ‘em.”
If some still think it’s funny, consider this: By next month Dillon expects sales, mostly through her website, to top 40,000 Go Girls a week. By then she should have a second factory producing her product. The first factory couldn’t keep up with demand.
Her product is not the first of its kind on the market, but Dillon insists it’s the best. “You know it’s really about the marketing; marketing to today’s active woman.”
Nichole Meyer wasn’t even out of the Go Girl booth when she started thinking about applications for the product. “Now I can write my name in the snow,” she laughed.
