Ladies find time for tea

[ad_1]

A champagne toast late Saturday morning preceded tea at the Missouri Governor’s Mansion.

More than 40 women from across the state gathered in the building’s dining hall for a royal tea.

The event was social, with old friends meeting up and also creating new acquaintances.

Randy Wright, the communications specialist on Gov. Mike Parson’s staff, sat at the grand piano, delicately plinking classical music in the background.

First lady Teresa Parson welcomed her guests to “The People’s House” and apologized for forgetting her own fascinator (an elegant hat worn at such occasions). Having just returned Thursday from Tokyo, she hadn’t had a chance to find the perfect hat.

“We’re very happy to have you,” Teresa Parson said. “For each and every guest that walks through those front doors — we’re always delighted to see them.”

The Parsons enjoy holding little festive events in the building, she explained.

And they enjoy working with Friends of the Governor’s Mansion, a nonprofit organization that raises money to maintain and replace contents of the building. It recently replaced all the mansion’s rugs.

Sprucing up of the dining room has recently been completed, she added. The state completed updates in the Grand Hall just before Christmas.

“I will point out that — because it’s just amazing to me — the wainscoting is not wood. It is plaster, because at the turn of the century, that would have been plaster only,” Parson said. “It is plaster, so they did a fantastic job with that.”

Tami Holliday, executive director of Friends of the Missouri Governor’s Mansion, said the nonprofit has held teas before, but they’ve all been in St. Louis. She said they asked the first lady about opportunities to hold a tea at the mansion, and learned that fall was going to be the best time of year for her to host.

“It’s a busy time of year. There’s a lot going on with people,” Holliday said. “But we’ve got a good crowd today and I think it will be fun.”

Participants paid $135 each to attend.

One of Holliday’s goals, she said, was finding a fun way to get people to come to the mansion following completion of the changes.

“It’s a beautiful building. And it tells so many stories,” Holliday said. “That’s what’s so fun about it. The furniture, and the paintings, and the nooks and crannies — all of it has a story.”