Hats and Hooves Derby Affair 2017

Saturday was the annual Hats and Hooves Derby Affair fundraiser for Communities In Schools of Coweta County, the local dropout prevention program that Alex and I help with their marketing. This is our third year to attend Hats and Hooves, and it’s so much fun to show up and see all the pretty hats everyone is wearing. 

I had a hard time even *finding* a hat to match the coral pink color in my dress this year. I waited too late (early April) to buy one online, and all the ones I really liked seemed to be in China and wouldn’t arrive until the end of May. I  finally found this one at a shop in Carrollton, and it was fine but not spectacular. So I got home Saturday night and started looking for next year’s hat! Obviously many of the women in attendance had no problem finding a great hat, and I didn’t want to be rude and say, “Where did you get that?” So if you know where to buy a stellar hat for next year, I’m open to recommendations!

This is our sweet CIS exective director, Gina, who once again chose a fascinator. She is one of those women who looks great in whatever she wears!

So what were some of the hats I liked this year? My friend (and fellow church member) Carrie, at left, was one of the hat contest winners for her beautiful hat. As much as I’m into aqua and turquoise these days, I absolutely loved her ensemble. Here are Carrie and her husband, Phil, with Lynn Smith, who happens to be our State Representative. (And if you'll permit me a brief commercial for local readers: Lynn is a well-known hat collector who generously donated her collection of 500+ plus hats and hat boxes to the Newnan-Coweta Historical Society. She'll be speaking on her hats at "Tea With Lynn" on Thursday, May 18, from 3-5 p.m. at the historical society. Call 770-251-0207 for reservations.)

Lynn’s Derby Day hat cleverly had a racing form (is that the right term?) worked into its design. Fun!

I've become friends with the talented (and beautiful) Bri from my work at the Newnan-Coweta Chamber, and she is such a good sport. I asked her to strike a pose, and she said, "How's this?" Perfect!

Another of my favorite hats belonged to my friend Sandee Crain, shown here with her husband, Joe. When I was a newspaper reporter many moons ago, we started an annual bridal section, and Sandee and Joe were my first bridal couple to star in an entire section of the newspaper. I have always taken great pride in the fact that they’re such nice people and terrific leaders in our community.

Here’s a detail from Sandee’s pretty pink hat.

And now, let's talk a little food. Isn’t this buffet table at the McRitchie-Hollis Museum lovely?

The mint juleps were being concocted outside, and inside, I made my own mixed drink, an Arnold Palmer, at the tea bar!

By the way, don't you love how often we're seeing fruit-infused water these days? I really liked this presentation.

I was happy to see the tea sandwiches. I ate one of the cucumber sandwiches, and it was delicious. The heavy hors d'oeuvres all looked wonderful, but I was saving room for the sweets, which are always outstanding.

This year, I saw what I thought were cake pop-style bourbon balls, but someone said they were rum balls.

My stomach wasn’t as hungry as my eyes, alas, but I did try these two goodies, some sort of sweet cake with iced topping (dates and nuts, maybe?) and a chocolate tart with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. These were my favorites.

Pink cupcakes made for a pretty display. But the sweet that made the biggest impression?

It was this. Any idea what that little bubble on top is for? No? Then I’ll tell you. It was brandy that you squirted over the individual little servings of bread pudding. Everybody was oohing and aahing over these. (I tried one and it was indeed quite good, but mostly I was impressed at the clever presentation.)

At the end of the night I was absolutely pooped when the dress and hat and high heels came off, happy but tired. And ready to start thinking about next year's hat!