SEQUIM — There were feathers and flowers, fun fur and faux fowl, fall leaves and frogs.
And in the case of Claudia Eklund, a fish.
“I just came back from a fishing trip,” Eklund said.
“I couldn’t get a salmon on my hat.”
Eklund, wearing a fish-net poncho strung with plugs and a fiberglass trout on her hat, was one of the 220 women who attended the eighth annual Mad Hatters Tea on Tuesday at SunLand Country Club.
A fun event with a serious side, the event, actually a luncheon, is a combination of support for women who have breast cancer, a celebration for those who have survived it and a reminder that with early detection, the disease can be beaten.
“It’s a lot of fun, it’s zany and there’s a lot of laughter that goes along with the message,” said master of ceremonies Pam Grandstrom.
Grandstrom is a member of the Tea Team, a group of nine Sequim women who organize the Mad Hatters Tea, which was started in 1998 by Patti Hudson as a way to show support for a friend, Jan Chatfield, who had cancer.
Originally planned for Hudson’s home, the tea was held at Pioneer Park clubhouse after word got out.
“We started with 20 people and it went to 100 just like that,” Hudson said.
For the past six years, it has been held at SunLand County Club, with tickets selling out within a week.
