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52 | April 2019 Rock Without The Hard Edge for Fayetteville. And Local News updates throughout the day. Aer Five concerts that are held at Festival Park once a month during late spring and summer and a fall festival. It's all in the name of promoting Fayetteville to residents and visitors alike. Allen spent her teen years in Virginia but was well-versed in Fayetteville – and its military connections – through her father, Staff Sgt. Michael A. Kalua, who served 20 years in the Army as a communications specialist in Special Forces and Special Operations units and then worked in civilian jobs on Fort Bragg. Kalua, an original member of Delta Force, died in 2010 at the age of 62. In 2018, a communications training facility at the Army's John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School on Fort Bragg was dedicated in Kalua's name. Malia attended high school in Virginia, then came to Fayetteville for college, earning an associate's degree at Fayetteville Technical Community College, then a bachelor's degree in communications at what was then known as Methodist College, now Methodist University. She spent a year working as communications coordinator for the Cumberland County Business Council, then moved to Durham with her husband. By 2009, the couple had two young children, born 11 months apart. Malia Allen was staying home with them but, dissatisfied with the commercial baby training pants that she found in stores, she started making her own and selling them online, via Etsy. Her father urged the family to move to Fayetteville and, in June 2010, they did. He died a month later. But the Allens were planted and a year later, Malia's online store took on a physical location as well, on Franklin Street in downtown Fayetteville. Called "bumbledoo," a combination of her sons' nicknames, it specialized in cloth diapers and natural products for babies and young children and offered support and help for expectant and new mothers. In 2013, she began holding an event called Babypalooza, which promoted the use of natural and alternative baby products and practices, including cloth diapers, breastfeeding and baby-wearing, and which also had space for businesses and service providers. Bumbledoo closed in 2016 but sold Babypalooza in 2017 and it continues on. Allen also found success with a business called Sprinkle:Pop:Play that was focused on character rentals, including princesses, and special event entertainment, such as children's tea parties. She has stepped away from the business now. Opportunities find Allen, probably because of her entrepreneurial spirit as well as her involvement in the community. In 2017, she was urged to apply for an open job with e Fayetteville Observer as its manager of events and special publications. She did and got the job and loved it. She said her husband made her promise to stay in the job FREE Concerts : Street Fair : Boom & Bloom Fireworks : Midway Classic Car Show : Air Born Aerials : Kidstuff : BMX Shows Friday Apr 26 at I0 pm Saturday Apr 27 at 9 pm The best festival

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