Garden party a fairy tale way to spend an afternoon

PALMER — It may not have been served up by the Mad Hatter or delicately sipped by a golden-haired girl named Alice, but Saturday’s Children’s Garden Tea Party was every bit the fairy tale experience.

Dozens of young girls, their parents and grandparents gathered on the deep green lawn at the Palmer Museum and Visitor Center to taste some tea, eat finger sandwiches and listen to a live string quartet.

It was the second annual tea party as part of the Mid-Summer Garden and Art Faire in downtown Palmer, a fundraiser for the Special Santa program. While much of the event featured a variety of food, booths and demonstrations, the tea party was a slice of high society.

For Palmer resident Sierra Dorman and her 3-year-old daughter Kora, the party was a way to take their everyday play to another level. Many of the attendees dressed in their summer best and enjoyed plucking colorful tea party hats from a tree.

“We have tea parties at home all the time,” Sierra said. “She loves to have tea parties with all her dolls. She’s very much a girly girl and she loves them. And really, her papa does the best tea parties.”

Sitting next to her best friend, Samantha Smith, 4, Kora enjoyed lemonade while eating a cheese sandwich with the crust cut off. She said she loves her white feather boa and admitted that between the people at the tea party and at home, that “these people here” make the best tea.

Across the lawn, 5-year-old Miriam Feldman and mom, Mary Beth, have just finished their tea. It’s Miriam’s second tea party, the first coming on her last birthday.

“I’ve had one before with my friends,” she said. “Well, we probably had it because I wanted to have ice cream.”

But she wants to have more tea parties. Many more. Why?

“Because you get … because, because, because mommy gets us cupcakes at the bakery,” Miriam said excitedly.

She also said she liked her special tea party hat “because it’s pretty and it has flowers on it.”

For mom, Saturday’s event was a reminder of tea parties she had as a little girl — albeit without the string quartet.

“I kind of grew up in a tea-centered home,” Mary Beth said. “ When I was her age, I’d have what they call big tea, which is a tiny bit of tea and a whole lot of milk and sugar. We just love tea parties, and there’s not a lot of opportunity for that here, like with tearooms. This is beautiful and having the things for the little girls to dress up, that was special, really delightful.”

While Mary Beth may have grown up in a tea-centered home, the elegant and festive party was new for a special guest — Mrs. Claus (aka Nancy James of Palmer).

“I don’t believe we had these when I was young,” she said. “And yes, I guess I did miss out. This is a new adventure for me. I think it’s terrific. The little girls are more dressed up and have their hats on, and so do the adults.”

She’s also pleased that the party, along with the rest of the art and garden fair, benefits Special Santa, a program near and dear to the Claus household.

“It means everything, doing everything we can to fill the wish lists of the kids,” she said.

In 2010, that meant giving a nice Christmas to 3,450 children from 1,052 families, said Mary Jo Parks, Special Santa’s CEO (chief elf organizer). Since the program’s inception in 2007, more than 15,000 children have been served.

“It takes a community that is very giving to do that,” she said. “We start out with no money in January and we’re all volunteers, and by Christmas Day, the community has donated financially, they’ve given us items, we have groups that go out and do fundraisers for us. It’s wonderful. It’s the giving side that’s more touching.”

Special Santa aims to provide a good Christmas for every Valley child, but it’s the personal stories of generosity that keep Parks coming back each year, she said.

“Yesterday, I talked to a lady who said her first year here two years ago, she had just moved to Alaska and her husband had died and had nothing for Christmas,” Parks said. “’You guys gave me Christmas,’ she said. That keeps me coming back.”

Another time a 17-year-old girl, instead of asking for gifts for herself, asked for heating fuel for her family, Parks said.

“Well, we can’t give fuel to a family, but a lady saw her wish list and she pulled together her friends and they bought fuel for that family for the winter,” she said. “They also bought the girl Christmas presents.”

This past Christmas, a man who had to transport his sick daughter to Anchorage daily was worried about his tires, “which were worn down to the rim,” Parks said. “We called Diversified Tire and they gave him a complete set of tires, did an alignment and also helped pay for his tags and registration.”

So, what’s on Parks’ wish list?

“Gee, nobody’s ever asked me that,” she said. After some careful thought, tops on her list would be a permanent home for Special Santa.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.