Red army of mad hatters invades

KEVIN SWAYZE

ROBERT WILSON, RECORD STAFF The Raspberry Margaritas (from left) Tisha (Countess of Cool) Novotny, Deb (Lady Lace) Furber and Carol (Lady Luvalot) Thorman show off their organization's trademark red hats.

CAMBRIDGE (Apr 8, 2004)

There appears to be no way to stop a red wave poised to invade Cambridge and Kitchener.

Not that anyone should fear bus- loads of savvy, outspoken women coming to town with plans to have fun, spend money and support the HopeSpring Cancer Support Centre.

"Beware the red spread!" said Carol Thorman, a red hatter from Preston.

She's not serious. Nothing about the Red Hat Society is serious. Except, it seems, having fun.

"This is something for anyone. The only rules are there are no rules. It's all about us," Thorman said, actually sounding serious. I think.

There are, however, a few conventions observed. Red hats may be worn by women older than 50. Pink hats are worn by younger members. It costs $35 to register a chapter. But that's about it.

Thorman owns the Out of the Ordinary shop in the Preston Towne Centre retail area and is co-founder of the Raspberry Margaritas, one of several local Red Hat chapters.

Other members include one of her employees, Deb Furber, and Tisha Novotny, owner of Tisha's women's clothing store across King Street.

The Margaritas formed in February after Thorman saw how the Red Hat movement was advancing across the U.S. While vacationing there last year, she learned of nearly 50 chapters in the Myrtle Beach area alone.

The society was born in 1997 when a woman in California was celebrating the 55th birthday of a friend. Instead of bemoaning the advance of age, Sue Ellen Cooper gave her friend a red hat and a copy of the poem Warning by Jenny Joseph -- a poem about the silly things women were supposed do when growing old, like wearing purple clothes and a red hat.

400,000 MEMBERS

Soon, a group of women were meeting wearing red hats, for no more reason than to have a good time and thumb their noses at the march of time. According to http://www.redhatsociety.com/ there are now 20,000 chapters worldwide with 400,000 members.

Thorman, Novotny and Furber obviously enjoy each other's company. The 50-somethings tease each other openly about menopause, crack jokes about their weight and relationships, and toss out witty, catty barbs -- even as I took notes and blushed.

Red Hatters aren't Rotary or Optimist wannabes.

"It's just a social club. It's not a make-work project," Thorman said.

But many chapters, such as the Raspberry Tarts of Kitchener, do take on causes.

That chapter takes over the Walper Terrace Hotel on April 25 to raise money for HopeSpring, expecting to host hundreds of Red Hatters from across southern Ontario. For information, visit the website: http://www.raspberrytarts.com/aprilhoot.shtml

In January, the Tarts announced plans to doff their clothes and pose for photos in a cheeky fundraising calendar for HopeSpring.

The Margaritas are helping the Tarts at the Walper, have declared Preston Towne Centre the Red Hat capital of Canada and organized a celebration in Preston from April 19 to 25.

Red and purple bows will decorate King Street utility poles and storefronts, as merchants await the invasion, some with discounts at the ready.

But red hatters have already been scouting Preston, Novotny said. Last weekend, carloads of members from chapters in Guelph, Brantford, Listowel, Waterloo and St. Catharines dropped by for some shopping.

"We've sold 35 red hats in three days," Novotny said.

If the red hatters I met this week in Preston are any indication, Cambridge is about to get knocked on its collective ear when the invasion comes.

"We don't need an excuse to have fun. It just gives us more licence," Thorman said.

"We say it like this in the Raspberry Margaritas' mission statement: Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming 'Wow! What a ride!' "

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Kids can play in Kitchener and Waterloo, too, I've been told.

Last week, I reported the Cambridge Kids Can Play group is the only one in the region. It offers grants to help children from low-income families participate in sports and cultural activities.

While there isn't a Kids Can Play group north of Highway 401, there is a new organization now helping children afford to participate in sports. Kidsport K-W Chapter formed last fall and will pay up to $250 for a child to play. For information, call organizer Larry Widdifield at 893-1290.

kswayze@therecord.com