Local chapters host state convention

SANDPOINT — “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple, with a red hat which doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.”

The remaining stanzas of that poem — written in 1961 by an Englishwoman named Jenny Joseph — extol the benefits of living outrageously, wearing your slippers in the rain, picking flowers from other people’s gardens, gobbling up samples in shops and spending your retirement nest egg on summer gloves and satin sandals.

As more female Baby Boomers become women of a certain age, the poem has gone from being a humorous literary aside to a post-retirement battle cry. This is especially true in the case of the Red Hat Society — an international organization that got its start about 12 years ago when two friends in Fullerton, Calif., shared a laugh after one presented the other with a copy of Joseph’s poem and a red hat to celebrate her 50th birthday.

Before long, the lines of verse were making the rounds and red hats were cropping up everywhere.

“It started with one red hat this gal bought at a thrift store and it grew from there,” said Meg Frost, who holds the title of Queen of Sandpoint’s Red Hat Rascals. “Now it’s worldwide.

“The Red Hat Society is basically a disorganized organization that exists just for women to have fun,” her highness added.

The Sandpoint chapter has about 65 members, while the Sassy Ladies chapter in Hope/Clark Fork claims close to 20. This weekend, they will don their crimson caps and welcome more than 300 additional Red Hatters to the Bonner County Fairgrounds for the group’s annual Idaho State convention, which is being hosted in Sandpoint for the first time this year.

A total of 55 Red Hat Society chapters from six states and Canada will be in attendance, as well as 30 different queens.

“It’s going to be a sea of red hats,” said Marge Luther.

The convention theme is Sandpoint Red Hat Hoedown, the members explained, proudly showing off their event T-shirts from Meyer’s Sport-Tees and the red cowgirl hats, purses and chaps they pulled together as ensembles for the occasion.

Convention-goers will be greeted Friday night with a catered dinner from the Hoot Owl and live music by the Monarch Mountain Band. On Saturday, the women will be treated to a Coldwater Creek fashion show, after which they plan to pour out onto the streets on Sandpoint for some local shopping and dining before returning to the fairgrounds for afternoon card bingo, a play by the Heron Players and another catered dinner.

“Sunday morning is our PJ party,” said Jeannie Roach. “Everybody shows up in their pajamas.”

Along with Chris Boward, Queen of the Sassy Ladies chapter, Roach will join several other merchandise vendors at the event, all of whom have a few things in common:  Their wares are either red, a tad bit over the top, or both.

“For these women, the focus is ‘spend money on Red Hat items,’” said Boward. “Hats, pins, jewelry, purses, shoes — they’re looking for Red Hat stuff.”

“In other words, anything glitzy,” said Betty Johnson, who, as the second in command for the Sandpoint chapter bears the designation of Queen of Vice.

It’s all well and good to say the Red Hat Society exists for having fun, but what, the local members were asked, do the chapters actually do?

“Remember ladies,” cautioned Boward with a stern look around the room. “What happens with the Red Hatters stays with the Red Hatters.”

The women seated around her nodded in solemn agreement, feigned that they were zipping their lips — and then promptly cracked up.

“We’ve had Backwards Day, where we all wore our clothes backwards and we had a luau in January,” Frost said.

“And we have lunches and boat trips and trips to the casino,” Roach said.

“Wait a minute,” Frost interjected. “I never heard about a trip to the casino.”

“You never asked,” Roach deadpanned, prompting another round of laughter.

“Besides the fact that we’re basically a fun group, women can’t help but be helpful,” the Sandpoint Queen said. “So we’re very involved in things like helping to prevent domestic violence and aiding battered women through groups like TIPS (Transitions in Progress) and they work they do around here.”

The women attending this weekend’s convention also will collect greeting cards to send to military personnel serving overseas so that they will have a wider selection to choose from when it comes time to send a birthday card or anniversary note back home.

Each local chapter member recounted some instance where their red-hatted friends stepped up to support them after major surgery or a death in the family.

“It all comes back to the comradery,” Boward said. “Women really do form relationships and we back each other up.”

“That’s what we are — one big, honkin’ support group,” Roach added.

“That’s hugging support group,” Johnson corrected.

For those reasons, some members elect to become active in more than one chapter, according to Luther.

“I belong to three myself,” she said. “And if there was another chapter, I’d probably join that one, too.

“It’s a good time of life for people who are retired,” she went on, pushing back the brim of her red hat and folding her hands across her purple t-shirt. “We can wear red hats and embarrass our children.”

“That’s right,” Roach agreed. “We may grow old, but that doesn’t mean we have to grow up.”

Local chapters of the Red Hat Society meet monthly in Sandpoint and Hope. For more information, call (208) 263-4916 for the Sandpoint Red Hat Rascals, or (208) 266-1405 for the Sassy Ladies of Hope/Clark Fork.