Hats off the Derby

For Terri Prost and her friends, the Kentucky Derby sounds the starting gun for the summer hosting season, and as such, they like to celebrate it in style.

"We start thinking about it early," she said. "And it keeps getting bigger and bigger."

And every year there are more preparations to be made. The 141st Kentucky Derby will be run on May 2, and at Louisville's famed Churchill Downs, thousands will attend the event. The annual derby party that Prost hosts at her home with friends Barb Kroenung, Tish Barnes and Linda Dedeaux includes as many of the traditional trappings as possible. Pecan derby pie, iced tea and, of course, mint juleps are always on the menu, and in the weeks before the party, they gather to make their own derby hats.

"Anything goes, really," Barnes explained, glue-gunning jewels and feathers to a white hat base. "The bigger the better, normally."

"The gaudier the better, you mean," Prost added, showing off her collection of hats from past years.

From left, Tish Barnes, Linda Dedeaux, Teri Prost and Barb Kroenung model their Kentucky Derby hats Wednesday in Cape Girardeau. (Laura Simon)

Even among the pomp and circumstance of the Kentucky Derby, the hats have a reputation for being especially outlandish, and Prost's have adopted a similar ethos. There are feathers and leopard print fedoras, lace and jewels and roses; there's even a sun-hat with a pink flamingo beanie-baby incorporated into the crown.

"People get really into it," she said. "And we do, too. One year I had a hat with My Little Ponies [figurines] around the brim like a little track."

Kroenung's floppy black sun hat looks plain and conservative by comparison.

"You're not going to put sparklies or nothing on it?" Barnes asked, surprised. "Well, I like it. It's cute. But I've got to have more. I've gotta have more bling!"

They're not the only ones who enjoy using the derby to dress up and play fancy. Judith Golightly, owner of Judith's Antiques and Gung Ho Militaria, also fashions her own derby hats, adding a fresh spin to vintage attire.

"When I see a hat I like, I already know what it will look like [as a derby hat]," she said. "Then I use the flowers and the vintage lace, whatever it needs."

She's hosting her own Derby tea party downtown at her antique store, where people who register can sign up to dress up in early-20th century attire and have their photos taken.

"It's fun just to play dressup for the Kentucky Derby," Golightly explained. "It makes it special. ... All girls feel beautiful when they have a fancy hat on and the costume."

Whitney Quick of Lutheran Family and Children's Services also is preparing a fancy derby party at the plaza by Ray's in Cape Girardeau, though hers is for more than just play.

"It's a fundraiser to benefit Lutheran Family and Children's Services, they use [the proceeds] for pregnancy services. Adoption and foster care services, older adult care," she explained. "It's a fun way to give back to the community."

This will be the second year for her derby party, an idea that evolved out of LFCS's annual Boas and Bling party.

"We'll have a signature Kentucky Derby food ... vendors that people can come and shop from throughout the night ... and music and entertainment," Quick said.

And of course, a horse-race-themed raffle.

Tickets are available for LFCS's derby party by phone at 573-334-5866, and, as with any Kentucky Derby event, all hats are welcome.

tgraef@semissourian.com

388-3627