Recently the Chief Mountain Red Hat Southern Belles of
Cardston hosted a Victorian Stroll with Parasols at Henderson
Lake in Lethbridge for all Area Red Hatters. They came from
far and wide, Medicine Hat to Calgary and all points between,
112 Red, and Pink Hatted Ladies all in beautiful Victorian
finery, twirling their gorgeous parasols of every description,
as many were hand made. Not only were the parasols hand made
but our Queen Lorrain of the “Summer Wine Chapter” made their
Victorian dresses for this event. What a labor of love! She
was also a part of a family trio of Red, Pink & White Hats!
Which proves all ages enjoy the freedom of expression in
belonging to the Red Hat Society!
The host chapter also had a display of darling ceramic
mice in Red Hats and purple clothes from the Hamilton
collection of signed and numbered issue we held draws for
those ladies that put their names in our hat box. The lucky
winners were, Pat K. and Florence K. both of the Holy
Hattitude Chapter, Sharon C. of Lavender & Lace Chapter,
Madeline F. of Red Hats in the Hat Chapter. Congratulations
ladies!
Fun! It’s what we do! Smiles and laughter as in our
exuberance of greeting old and new acquaintances, knocking
elegant hats askew when we should have been demurely “rim
brushing”! Enthusiastic hugs are a must among Red Hatters!
Red Hats with picnic lunches, others had reservations
for lunch in area restaurants. Some strolled completely
around the lake, others shorter strolls just for the taste of
a bygone era when ladies dressed in elegance and strolled in
the parks to see and be seen. Of course, we Red Hatters in
our purple clothes and Red Hats are always visible whenever we
hold an event! Any lady over age 50 is welcome to become a
member of the Red Hat Society. Even ladies still working but
wish to let the child in them out to play, it’s what we do
best! So they join a chapter and begin a marvelous journey
into the glory of an age most think as being “old”. Oh No!
Not us! We thrive on dressing up in our Purple and Red to take
tea, eat dessert first and just have fun!
I mentioned Pink Hatters, girls under age 50 that want to
keep the spark of youthfulness alive as they approach that
certain age in their pink hats and lavender clothes. We
appeal to ladies of all ages, why, even the grand daughters
are joining with white hats and pink clothes! We are
Royalty! It’s a phenomenon! We’re taking the world by
storm! 2.5 million ladies joining together in the bond of
world friendship among 30 different countries through the
International dis-organization of the Red Hat Society.
Fun! T’s what we do! There are no rules, we gather
together for our own enjoyment and light heartedness with each
chapter having a Queen and all her chapterettes having royal
titles as well as chapter names become funny, funky or
frivolous!
It was our special delight to welcome the ladies from
Calgary. Queen Mum Luminous Liz and her Wild Rose Hatters and
the Red Hat Lariat Lasses with their Queen Lady Helen, who is
also Queen Mother of the Calgary Queens Council.
As friendships grow, I would be remiss not to mention all
16 members and Queen E of the Red Hats in the Hat as they had
the largest numbers of chapterettes attending our stroll. We
welcome them in Red Hat friendship and look forward to shared
future events.
The ladies in wheelchairs and scooters with parasols
assured me they had a grand time rolling along with the
strollers!
A very special “thank you” to all Red Hatters that Matter
from your host chapter for making A Victorian Stroll a Royal
Event to remember and no damage done by parasol “bumping”!! I
do wish I could include more pictures of all the beautiful
ladies but space prohibits although all will be included in
our scrapbook to be shared at future Red Hat Events! All
attending signed our guest book with promises to mail pictures
for our special scrapbook. Cameras were everywhere as in any
Royal event! We are so proud of our Red Hattedness, we love
our pictures taken!
We thank the City of Lethbridge Parks & Recreation for
the use of such a wonderful park which was perfect for our
Victorian Stroll.
Thanks to CTV for their coverage and friendly
reporter/cameraman Darrell, for his expertise and kindness to
our ladies.
