<I>Elane Dickenson/Chieftain</I><BR>Red Hatter Karen Wergen (right) appears to be aghast when she finds a red condom - in a green wrapper - hidden in her purse as a joke, while Jean Puderbaugh digs through her purse. Everyone who found a condom received a $1 bill.

Fun is the goal in Red Hat SocietyA red and purple wave has hit Wallowa County. The Red Hat Society, born in 1998 in Fullerton, Calif., as the aftermath of a poem celebrating women of a certain age, crossed the county border one year ago and Wallowa County hasn’t been the same since.

The High Wallowas Red Hat Society chapter held its first meeting on May 14, 2004, with 12 red-hatted charter members at the Outlaw Restaurant in Joseph. The lively group of women age 50 and older has since grown to 28 members, with a waiting list of seven Red Hat hopefuls.

More recently women in Wallowa chartered their own chapterlast fall.and call themselves the Wallowa Mountain Mamas. Sharing the Queen Mother crown of the Wallowa organization are Mary Ann Keyser and Anne Farmer. Their group activities, including a recent bowling outing at Wallowa Valley Lanes, attract up to 20 or more members.

The poem that inspired the red-and-purple movement is “Warning,” by British author Jenny Joseph. It starts out “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple with a red hat” and celebrates frivolity and the freedom that getting older brings.

“There are no rules. That’s part of the fun,” said one member at High Wallowas Red Hat chapter’s one year birthday at the Outlaw on May 19.

There are now 41,000 chapters of the Red Hat Society with about one million members in more than 30 countries including Canada, Australia, Mexico, Japan and Egypt. All new chapters register on-line at www.redhatsociety.com so perspective Red Hatters can go online to find a nearby chapter.

The spectacle of two dozen women wearing red hats and purple outfits – and bedecked with scarves, pins, bags, boas and other accessories of the same colors – is a little overwhelming and even dazzling. No shrinking violets, the local women in purple enjoy standing out when they are together. The society tends to have a liberating effect, according to members. “I used to wait to put on my red hat at the meetings, but no more,” one said. Another reported that sometimes when they’re walking together, they’ll hear someone yell, “Go, ladies.”

“Someone said we looked just like a flower garden,” reported member Rosie Reynolds proudly.

“It’s great. I think you look forward to getting out, and it’s neat to see all the different red hats and purple outfits,” said Joanne Holcomb, who was wearing a wide-brimmed red hat with a shimmering purpleband her daughter gave her for Mother’s Day. Like many of the members, she is collecting red hats for the group’s meetings and outings, and her wardrobe now sports a full dozen.

Treva Cook said another bonus of the society is spending time set aside just for fun with friends.

During the anniversary, two word games encouraged laughter but a search through purses for six hidden red condoms incited hilarity.

Queen Mother of the High Wallowa chapter is Ida Hillock, with Vice Queen Sue Sudman enjoying her role as sidekick. The two earned their offices fair and square by coming up with the idea of bringing the Red Hat Society to Wallowa County one day when they were volunteering at the Soroptimist Shop.

Sudman said she’d just returned from Arizona where she knew of a Red Hat chapter. “We were kind of bored,” she admitted. The pair decided to see if anyone would be interested. They put the word out, and a dozen women showed up for that first meeting. “We’ve had a ball,” Sudman said.

The women – ranging in age from 50 to 83 – meet once a month at a different restaurant in the county for lunch, and also to plan activities. Upcoming events include a birthday party to welcome a local woman to the 50s and show her how much life on the other side of that age can be. The group is also planning a trip to tour Baker City sites and to do another thing they all enjoy – shop.

The Red Hats made their public debut by earning a second place award in the Summerfest parade last summer, and the colorful group also took part in the Chief Joseph Days, Jingle through Joseph and Enterprise Winterfest parades, as well as the recent Chocolate Lovers Walk in Enterprise.

The group has also ventured out of state in their red hats to a Purple and Red Luncheon in Walla Walla, Wash., and a Purple April Fools Day Party in Dayton, Wash. In the near future they plan to get together with a chapter in Union County and also tour Baker City.

While the Red Hats joined the group for light-hearted fun, they also list a number of community good deeds in their first year, including providing a meal for the senior meal sites at Enterprise and Wallowa and making donations to the food bank and troops serving in Iraq. Five members also served as hostesses at the Protect Our Children meeting last fall.

In addition to those already mentioned, members of the High Wallowa Red Hat Society are Joan Pierce, Brenda Jones, Karen Wergen, Carol Gibbs, Carol Vencill, Jean Puderbaugh, Dorothy Pace, Kathy Reynolds, Val Berger, Judy McKinney, LeVelle Roberts, Phyllis Gibbs, Jean Pierce, Laura Jean Locke, Laura Bethards, Diane Turner, Bonnie Theabolt, Elodie Codonai, Pearl Sturm, Dorothy Daggett, Ethel Voss, Bev Connolly and Sharon Sherlock.

Following fun and games and food at their first anniversary, the Red Hat gang gathered around a cake frosted with a red hat and blew out one candle.

A red and purple good time was had by all.