The luncheon was held at the very beautiful Broetje House (pronounced "Broach-ee") in Milwaukie, Oregon (www.thebroetjehouse.com), planned and hosted by Queen Karlene Ernst of the Classy Red Hatters in St. Johns, and Queen Jill Davis of the Crimson Crones in Beaverton.  Unfortunately, Queen Karlene was in Arizona and regrettably couldn't attend, and Queen Jill hosted with a bad cold.  There were 74 attendees at the 3rd Annual Queens Luncheon.  Most were queens, and some were Vice Queens or "Email Femails".  

Two Crimson Crones, Marilyn Harris and Clara Kries, were invaluable assistants greeting everyone at the registration desk, making name badges, and handing out tickets for door prize drawings.  Queen Jill forgot to acknowledge and thank them in front of the entire group, so I hope this will somewhat make up for the oversight.

Queen Jill spoke first, introducing herself, and welcoming the many new queens and returning queens from Oregon and Vancouver.  She gave a little history of the Red Hat Society in Oregon, which began January 26, 2001 with nine chapters.  Now four years and two months later, there are more than 400 chapters and and it's still growing.  Photos from that very first meeting can be seen at www.crimsoncrones.net.  Click on Events Photo Album, then scroll to the bottom of the Event List to view the very first red hat meeting in Portland.

We then went around the room, each gal introducing herself, her chapter name and city, and any comments about successful events or other items to share to help give each other ideas.  At the same time, table by table, hatters went to the buffet line to bring back a delicious plate filled with quiche, Ceasar salad, pinwheels of meat and cheese, fresh fruit, and chocolate & lemon mousse.

Many queens donated doorprizes to go along with the items that Queens Karlene and Jill had planned as gifts.  Every 10 minutes or so, Queen Jill would announce it was time for more door prizes and three or four were given out before the next queen stood up to speak.

Photos were taken during the luncheon and are shown below.  The photos in the first three rows were taken by Queen Micheil-Ann Gill from Ladies of the Pioneer in Gresham, Oregon.  The second three rows were taken by Queen Verna Stultz of Babes in the Woods in Estacada, Oregon.  Thank you both so much for these wonderful memories.

If anyone else has photos they would like to share, please email them or snail mail them for scanning, to Queen Jill Davis, and they will be added to the website.  Scanned photos will be returned upon request.

The Queens' Luncheon (or Tea) is always held on the first Saturday in March, so be sure to mark your calendars for next year on March 4, 2006.  The hosting queen will be Dee Brown Smith of the Red Halos in Salem.

Please remember to ask any queens that you meet if they know about the annual Queens' Luncheon.  If they don't, then they are not on the list and we would like to add them to the list to receive information about upcoming events.  Would you please email Queen Jill with their name and email address and telephone number, or give them mine.

Thank you and see you next year.