By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - A sea of red and purple will flow Saturday as the Four Flag Floozies, a Niles area Red Hat group, is hosting their second annual picnic and garden party.
The group is offering those attending the picnic, barbeque chicken, brats, coleslaw, baked beans, salads and deserts, which they are preparing themselves.
The Four Flags Floozies Red Hat group was started just four years ago and has 25 members.
Last year there were just a few who attended, but this year there are 126 red hatters planning to come to Niles Saturday.
Besides the the picnic fare, the red hatters will also be holding a raffle for their guests where they can win gifts donated or created by the Four Flags Floozies.
They also wanted to start hosting this event, as other Red Hat groups have activities to which they are invited.
The organization gives some older Red Hats a chance to get out and about, she added.
The Red Hat society was started several years ago by a women in Tucson, Ariz., named Sue Ellen Cooper, who bought a red hat at a thrift store. A few years after she purchased the hat, she read a poem, which talks about an older women wearing a red hat with purple clothing.
Cooper thought it would be idea to give a friend a red hat and a copy of the poem for her birthday. She then kept giving that same gift to friend after friend.
After many of the friends received the hats they thought of themselves as a "Red Hat Society" and that maybe they should go out for tea in their full regalia.
Their group began to grow as more women were brought into the group. They encouraged some of the women to start a new group as theirs was getting too large.
A group member passed along the idea to a friend in Florida and the first "sibling" group was born.
Those in the group who are over the age of 50 wear their red hats with a purple outfit, while those who are under the age of 50, wear a pink hat with a lavender outfit.
For more information on how to join a local Red Hat Society group, or how to start your own, you can visit, www.redhatsociety.com.