People gathering outside of ElmSt. Boxing Club smiled as they caught up with friends and met new people, enjoying the live music, warm chili and each other's company.
Meanwhile, children were intently focused on their arts and crafts, painting cutouts of snowmen, penguins and Christmas trees; taping colorful tissue paper to the wall in the shape of butterflies, flowers and hearts; and coloring geometrical patterns on the ground with chalk.
Then, it was time for the main event - the sparring matches. Children stared in awe, trainers yelled instructions and encouragement, and the crowd cheered as the boxers faced off in the ring.
ElmSt. Boxing Club hosted an open house Sunday afternoon. Organized by ElmSt. Boxing Club members, the event celebrated the local boxing gym's five-year anniversary and allowed the community to learn what ElmSt. Boxing is about.
Coming to Jefferson City from Los Angeles, Mario Antonio opened ElmSt. Boxing in 2016 after seeing a need for it in the community. While some gyms in the area had boxing classes, there wasn't a place exclusively for boxing. So, he decided to create a boxing studio - and, ultimately, a boxing family.
"In the boxing community, when you get to start speaking the same language and going through the same trials and tribulations and whatnot, you become a family - and that's more so what this place is," Antonio said. "It's not just a boxing facility. It's not just a place where we turn people to make them compete. We really all just have a genuine love for each other."
Grinning from ear to ear, Antonio paused to take in the scene at the event.
"I'm taken aback by how well this is going," he said. "Oh my goodness, I'm just overwhelmed right now."
Originally at 512 Ellis Blvd., ElmSt. Boxing Club moved to 330 E. Capitol Ave. - a bigger space - about a year ago. "ElmSt." is an abbreviation for "elevated mindset," which quantifies Antonio's philosophy toward boxing. Boxing offers him an outlet, one he wants to offer everyone. ElmSt. Boxing Club welcomes people of all experience levels and ages.
"If you come here, we're not going to push you to compete," Antonio said. "We have people of all ages who sometimes just want this emotional, spiritual and physical outlet. But then for people who want to compete, we put them on a whole different path."
Lacey Tucker, who participated in a boxing match at Sunday's event, had no prior boxing experience before she joined ElmSt. Boxing Club about three years ago. After attending one of its "Ladies Night" events, she was instantly hooked.
"It's just a great outlet, and honestly, the family atmosphere makes it so much easier to show up and work hard every day - because what we do isn't easy," she said.
While Antonio's main goal when he started ElmSt. was to create a boxing family, it's the members who coined the term, he said.
"When we're in the thick of things, and it's getting hard, and you look over to your neighbor, and they're doing the same thing and having their own struggles in their own individual type of way, it's a camaraderie that's built there," he said. "I love that. I love that energy."
Antonio attributes ElmSt. Boxing's success to all of its members.
"As far as what we've done thus far, this is everybody's work," he said. "It's not just me. It's not about me. This is about everybody whose put in the work to get us to this place right here."
He said his goal is to get more members, and he hopes Sunday's event accomplishes that by bringing attention to ElmSt. Boxing Club.
"We're for the people; we're for each other," he said. "Everybody here will always have each other's backs. ElmSt. will always have your back."
To find out more about ElmSt. Boxing Club, visit its Facebook page or stop by at 330 E. Capitol Ave.