Channel your Mad Hatter at P.J. Ahern Home tea
TEXARKANA, Ark. — A fancy tea time and a chance to wear your most flamboyant headwear arrive on Saturday, June 26, at the P.J. Ahern Home with a “Mad Hatter Tea” from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The Texarkana Museums System encourages attendees to wear an outrageous hat they have created or hand-decorated themselves to be part of the Best Hat contest.
TMS Curator Jamie Simmons says this event is a nod to tea parties the Museums System held in the past. During the party, guests will be seated and served in the Ahern Home’s music room, library, parlor and dining room. With food catered by Benchmark American Brasserie, staff will serve sweets, finger foods and four varieties of hot teas.
In keeping with that Mad Hatter theme, guests are encouraged to wear an outlandish hat. Winners will be selected in three categories: Most Outrageous Hat, Prettiest Hat, Best of Show.
“The twist we’re putting on it is that the theme is hats. Dress is casual but we do want everybody to wear a hat,” Simmons said. “Any hat they want to wear. It can be a hat they own, but we are encouraging people to either decorate a hat or create a hat from scratch so they can enter the hat contest.”
During a parade of hats, attendees will show off their hat while participants vote on each category. There are prizes beyond the glory of winning.
“Everybody will get a winner’s ribbon if they win, but we will have some small
prizes for each one of those categories,” Simmons said.
In the past, the Museums System hosted tea parties for the public, such as a winter tea, often with a guiding theme. Benchmark has a tea menu they’ve created for the TMS, Simmons said. In addition to sandwiches, the menu includes a dessert or sweet options and a salad, plus four tea selections.
“We always have Earl Grey, which is our most popular choice for people. Everybody loves Earl Grey. But then we’ll have another variety of just black tea, and then we always have a fruit infusion tea and then a decaffeinated option, which is usually an herbal blend,” Simmons said.
Tea choices rotate from event to event. They use vintage china (teacups and saucers) that came with the house or were donated for tea time use.
“We like to kind of open people’s horizons with regards to tea,” Simmons said, adding, “It’s always fun to actually have tea served with an actual tea service. We’ll even have teapots out and everything.”
(Tickets: $25 per person, or $20 for TMS members. The deadline for buying tickets is Wednesday. Register at TexarkanaMuseums.org/Events or call 903-793-4831. The P.J. Ahern Home is located at 403 Laurel St.)