TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Group finds joy in wearing red

News Channel 8 photo by David Kraut

Kathy Robarts, center, meets with other Pat Acres Red Hots members at a luncheon in her home.

ADVERTISEMENT

By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 23, 2009

The queen's castle is a ranch-style house in shaded Pat Acres, just off West Waters Avenue. Her crown is a visor with her name and attached tiara. A small red and purple flag by the walkway is the only sign of the royalty inside.

Kathy Robarts has reigned as Queen Kathy for the past four years over the Pat Acres Red Hots, a group of about 20 women, mostly from her neighborhood. They meet monthly to socialize, shop, dine or seek out entertainment. They stand out wherever they go in their purple outfits and hats that range from modest ballcaps to flamboyant fedoras ruffled in feathers.

Their eclectic head-toppers give them away as Red Hat members. Men come up to them and boast that their mothers are in a group. Waiters spot the outfits and ask if they have visited before.

The Pat Acres group has a lot of company. More than 30,000 chapters exist internationally, sprouting from a small group of friends in California. Sue Ellen Cooper wanted to look at aging in a lighthearted way and began meeting 11 years ago with friends for afternoon tea, decked in purple outfits and red hats, according to the Red Hat Society Web site.

Norma Martino heard about the Red Hots three years ago from a neighbor.

"I've met a lot of different ladies that I never knew," Martino said.

People tend to stay inside their houses and not interact much with their neighbors. Martino, a retired teacher, loves the chance the Red Hat Society gives her to go to plays and meet new friends.

You can join as a red hatter or pink hatter, depending on your age, Robarts said. The pink hatters are women younger than 50 who stick to paler colors – pink hats and lavender outfits – until their "REDuation," when they turn 50 and graduate to red and purple.

Robarts' chapter started over lunch. She and five recently retired neighbors began meeting regularly for lunch and dubbed themselves the "Flowerfield Girls" for their street. Robarts had read about the Red Hat Society and asked one day if they wanted to formalize their get-togethers.

They charged $20 dues a year to cover mailings and goodie bags, appointed Robarts their leader and recruited members through the neighborhood newsletter and word of mouth.

They toured Busch Gardens and Sunken Gardens and got tickets for musicals they may have had a tough time dragging their husbands to – "Menopause the Musical," "My Fair Lady" and the Red-Hat-inspired "Hats."

If members became ill, they set up a food schedule where others signed up to provide home-cooked meals or takeout once a day for two weeks.

"Your volunteers line up real quick," Robarts said.

They keep coming back to meet new people and catch up with their friends.

"The sisterhood is so important," said Norma Robarts, Kathy's sister in law and a member of an Erie, Pa., chapter. She visited Queen Kathy's meeting in June when she was in town. "Sometimes you can't tell your husband things."

They also like the chance to act out a bit. The Red Hat Society's Web page says it "revitalizes" its members and encourages them to have fun and celebrate life. Members gathered at Robarts' house in June to dish over sangria and sandwiches. One woman recited a story about her dog and did a little dance, before looking around self-consciously.

"That's OK," her friend said. "You can do that – you're a Red Hat lady."

Joan Messore, who belongs to another Red Hat chapter, brought hats, clothes and accessories she sells weekly at the Oldsmar flea market to the Pat Acres meeting. The women took turns trying on the wares as Messore decked them out in crowns and boas.

She showed them how feather clips could be worn alone as a "hat" in warm weather, snapped onto flip flops or as an accessory to a hat. A feather wig with silver tinsel could be worn alone or over a hat, whatever they preferred, she said.

"We can do anything, anything we want to do," Messore said.

She recommended ways to cock their hats jauntily.

"We're cocky women," she said. "We have earned the right to look that way."

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (727) 451-2343.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT