STANWOOD — A red hat wasn’t enough.
Lois Sharpe, a member of the Camano Tomatoes, a Camano Island chapter of the Red Hat Society, decided it was time to step up the va-va-voom that is usually exhibited through her flamboyant scarlet hat and loud purple dress.
This time, she decided, she’d show a little shoulder. And even, perhaps, a little more.
“You get what you get,” Sharpe said gleefully.
The result is a dozen photographs, plus a few extras, featuring the Camano Tomato ladies, most of whom shimmied their bare shoulders for the sake of charity. Feather boas and fans keep the calendar G-rated. The ladies are accompanied in the photographs by male firefighters who wear their industrial work pants, suspenders slung over bare chests. Two female firefighters make a special appearance, one with fishnet stockings covering her long legs, and one wearing a bright red camisole.
Members of the Red Hat Society are generally over the age of 50. Sharpe fell in love with the idea of the ladies of her chapter posing in risque fashion for charity after she saw the 2003 film “Calendar Girls.” In the movie, middle-aged British women pose topless for a calendar, with domestic items including garden tools and skeins of knitting yarn shielding the naughty bits, to raise money for a local hospital.
“It took me about five minutes to convince the ladies to participate,” said Sharpe, who believes that no one but the government has any reason to know her real age.
The ladies first posed in 2005 for a 2006 calendar that raised $10,000 for a collection of Camano Island charities. The 2009 calendar is their second effort, and Sharpe knew enough to offer her adoring fans something different.
So she brought in the firefighters. They were nervous, she said, but the ladies of the Red Hat Society helped them feel right at home.
“Just think of the money raised,” Sharpe said. “And it’s all an illusion. Really, we’ve shown nothing!”
Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.
Care to join the fun?
To become a member of the Red Hat Society:
n Women must be 50 or older.
n Women under 50 can join as “Pink Hatters” until they are of age.
n The only rule of the Red Hat Society is that there are no rules. The goal is to help women relax, have fun and enjoy friendships. “We feel like we have all been so dutiful and so busy for so long that we deserve a break,” according to the society’s Web site.
n Each chapter of the society has a Queen Mother, usually the woman who founded the chapter.
n To find a local chapter or get more information, go to www.redhatsociety.com.
To order the Camano Tomatoes 2009 calendar, e-mail lizzerd80@hotmail.com or write Liz Tarbert, 1290 Uplands Drive, Camano Island, WA 98282. Calendars are $13.50 each, including postage and handling.
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