By Margaret Houben
A wonderfully mad time was had by those who attended the second annual Mad Hatter’s Tea Party on Mar. 14 at the Seniors’ Hall in Barriere.
Twenty-six people attended, despite the COVID19 kerfuffle and the cold weather. Besides the tickets sold, there were also many donations made by some who weren’t going to attend but who wanted to support the cause, and a few more donations at the event itself. After the dust settled (and the bill for lunch was paid), a total of $310 was raised for Barriere and District Hospice Society.
For the first hour, as people gathered, those attending played croquet up on the stage, whacking a hedgehog stuffy through a hoop using a flamingo lawn ornament as the mallet. Such fun! At the same time, other people put together a jigsaw puzzle on the back table, while a few more coloured pictures.
Then the door prizes were handed out while a runner went to get the pizzas. There were 13 door prizes – all treasure chests full of all sorts of goodies. During lunch, there was some trading going on between the door prize winners. I traded a figurine for some marbles! Another young lady traded all sorts of goodies for seashells.
When everyone was done with lunch, the judges started handing out prizes for the best hats (there were 16 prizes). Finally, the prizes for the croquet game were handed out. Surprisingly, there was more fuss over the battery-operated light-saber than I expected … several adults were practically having sword fights over it.
Thank you to all who participated or donated in any way, including Sweetnam’s for discounting many items purchased for the event, Sam’s Pizza for the great price on the pizzas we had for lunch, Armour Mountain Office Services for the discount on the cost of photocopying, 93.1 The Bear for the free public service announcements, North Thompson Star/Journal for running articles and ads, and all those who purchased tickets or donated. This is such a great, giving community.
Mark your calendars now for the third annual Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, which will be on Mar. 13, 2021. For this one, it will be the Mad Hatter and the Three Bears – Paddington, Pooh, and Rupert.
