Penny Battaglia and her mother, Sandy Hides, are a generation apart, yet they say a society of red hats has helped bring them closer together.
“We all have one common goal–to have fun and act silly,” said Battaglia, 58, who joined the group about the same time as Hides, 84. “I found I can have fun with older ladies.”
The two on Sunday joined hundreds of other women, sporting every imaginable style of red hat, as they walked down Michigan Avenue toward what they hoped would be a record-setting high tea.
“I enjoy it very much because we don’t see each other enough,” said Hides, who wishes her other daughters would join the group as well. “I don’t think they realize how much fun it is. Maybe they don’t want to admit they’re 50.”
The women, members of the Red Hat Society, a national group that celebrates life after 50, hope to set the Guinness world record for the biggest “red hat tea.” In Chicago, more than 1,100 members attended teas at the Drake and Knickerbocker Hotels, according to organizers.
“It’s such a togetherness of people. That’s what life is all about,” Battaglia said. “I don’t think men have this camaraderie like women.”
Some members likened the society to a grown-up version of a Girl Scouts troop.
“We can get together and have fun, too, just like young people,” said Carol Cellini, 59. “The flashier, the better.”
Organizers estimate at least 2,000 Red Hat Society members across the U.S. had 3 p.m. tea. At the Drake, women munched on cucumber sandwiches and raisin scones. The tea also celebrated the group’s Founders Day.
For many of the women at the tea, some wearing red cowboy hats and others dressed in red capes, spending time with friends was more important than reaching the record books. Their style follows the poem “Warning” by Jenny Joseph, in which a woman says she will wear purple clothes and red hat when she is older, according to the group’s Web page.
“It’s an opportunity to greet middle age with fun and vigor and enjoy friendship with other women,” said Barbara Lesiak, one of the event’s organizers. “This is an opportunity to take time for yourself. It’s recess.”
People walking down Michigan stopped to take pictures with members of the group.
“I feel like a movie star,” said Linda Fitzgerald, 57, of Jefferson Park. “People look at us and go `Who are you?’ We say, `We’re red hats, we’re over 50, and we’re having a ball.’ Where would you go to get a reaction like that?”
Fitzgerald said the Red Hat Society lets her take time for herself.
“My kids are grown up, and I did everything for them,” she said. “Now, I want to do something for me.”
The group of women, which started in 1998, has grown rapidly. Only 50 people attended the group’s first Founders Day tea in Chicago in 2003, organizers said. Now, the group has more than 40,000 registered chapters across the country and about 1 million members, Lesiak said.
A group of Red Hat Society members who refer to themselves as “Bodacious Babes in Bonnets” came from Iowa for the tea. For Bonnie Kirk, 70, the friendships she made through the group have helped her to deal with the death of her sister.
“Anything that makes you laugh and have fun helps you heal,” said Kirk, who lives near Des Moines. “This is really a support group.”
The group is geared toward those 50 and older, but that hasn’t stopped younger members from joining the festivities. Pink hats and lavender distinguish those who are under 50.
A pink hat helped Jaime Daley, 27, stand out in the crowd. She called herself a “lavender lady in waiting.”
“It’s nice to have a lot of different ages,” she said. “It’s all about having fun with friends.”
The Red Hat Society has not only brought together groups of friends and families.
Terry Bibeau, 57, who formed a group with more than a dozen of her first cousins, came to the tea for “the excitement of getting together with people from all over and seeing what they look like in their red hats.”
“It’s just getting together and being who we want to be,” she said.
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jlebovich@tribune.com
