Published: February 01, 2008 11:25 am            

LADIES OF THE MIST: Red Hat's first rule is have fun!

The words of Jenny Joseph have become an anthem for women across the world, and the Niagara region is no different. There are many local chapters of the Red Hat Society, created to mark the first words of a poem that pays tribute to the delicious contrariness of impolite aging.

You can almost imagine thousands of red hats being flung into the air as these women embrace a philosophy that throws off some of the constraints of their hard-working generation, and celebrates the “anti-club,” where the only rule is that the meetings must be fun.

Plus, the hats are really cool. At a recent meeting of the Niagara Falls chapter, Ladies of the Mist, there were a wide assortment of red hats and purples outfits, which are one of the few requirements to be in the society. You must wear purple and a red hat. You also must be older than 50.

The hats are attracting younger membership these days, possibly because the women who show up in restaurants, community rooms and parlors around the globe wearing their wild outfits look like they’re having so much fun.

That’s how Elaine Palumbo of Niagara Falls came to be a member of the Falls’ Red Hats group. It was all really her mother’s fault.

It started when her mom, Cecelia Alati, went to the races and saw a group of women in red hats enjoying the day.  She went home and told her daughter she wanted to start a chapter in Niagara Falls.

“I told her, ‘Are you crazy? You’re 84 years old,’ ” Palumbo said.

Perhaps. After all, Alati was already a member of a handful of other groups, including the Christopher Columbus Society and the her senior center board, but, Niagara Falls must have needed a chapter of Red Hats because once started, the organization grew quickly to 81 members.

Alati became “Queen Mother Cecelia,” because that’s the title you get when you start a chapter, she said.

Her daughter would have left her mother to her red-hatted rebellion, except for one thing. The daughter’s friends really liked what her mother was up to. They had been on a trip to Toronto that her mother had planned for one of her other clubs, and just wanted to hang out with someone filled with so much life.

So, the Niagara Falls chapter got an infusion of the next generation when Elaine and five of her friends — all graduates from Niagara Falls High School’s class of 1962 — joined the chapter.

“We enjoy going on trips, going to luncheons, being with our friends and meeting new people,” Elaine said. “Most of all, we enjoy wearing our red hats.”

The Niagara Falls Ladies of the Mist chapter currently has a closed membership due to its size.

Alati points out that anyone else who wants to be queen will have to start their own chapter. For those who simply want to join the fun, there are at least 17 chapters in the region, including four more in the Niagara Falls area, six in the Lockport area and eight in the Kenmore-Tonawanda area, all listed at www.redhatsociety.com.

Contact editor Michele DeLuca at 693-1000, ext. 157.

        

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