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By DONALD MOTTERN | Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA – On Saturday, March 16, roughly 100 guests turned out in their Saturday best at the Shelby County Arts Council’s Grande Hall for the seventh annual Easter Bunny Tea Party organized by the Columbiana Beautification Board.

The family-friendly event was tailored to younger audiences and allowed families to dress up for the approaching holiday. All attendees were able to sit for a formal style tea party that offered cupcakes, cookies and other snacks in the way of refreshments.

“This is one of the main fundraisers for the Columbiana Beautification Board, and it is certainly one of our favorites,” said Lisa Davis, chairperson for the Columbiana Beautification Board. “We have the bunnies, the food, fun dancing and the music, so of course it is one of our favorite things we do.”

Returning for its seventh year, the Easter Bunny Tea Party serves as one of the two major fundraisers for the board each year. Tickets to this year’s event were $15 per person and included a meet and greet with the bunnies for the children and the opportunity to mingle with the board for the parents.

“We take the proceeds from this fundraiser and we give back to Columbiana in the ways of planting flowers, purchasing and installing benches and picnic tables,” Davis said. “The event helps support any kind of community project that we do that we might not have a budget for.”

Davis and other members of the beautification board arrived at the Grande Hall as early as 5 a.m. the day of the event to finalize preparations and to begin the staging for the event. Burley Girl Bakery also aided in supplying the event by donating bunny shaped cookies for the occasion.

“We have nine local ladies that are on our beautification board, and we are all volunteers,” Davis said. “We are an active and working board and we work hard to make these events as fun and successful as possible.”

Decorations for the event included table runners featuring embroidered Easter imagery and lettering that matched with individualized table settings and decorations that made each place setting unique.

Following the formal tea party, where guests mingled and enjoyed their refreshments, younger guests and their parents were able to take to the dance floor. Throughout the event, songs were played from a number of Disney movies, most notably “Encanto”, “Aladdin” and “Frozen.”

The musical arrangement also included traditional Easter themed party songs that invited children to “bounce like a bunny,” and even featured popular pop music and a dash of Elvis Presley when Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny took to the dance floor to the tune of “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

“We thought it would be nice to let Mr. and Mrs. Easter Bunny have a special moment between the two of them,” Davis said. “We had so much fun at the bunny tea. (It is) hard work, but (it is) such a reward seeing all those smiling, dancing, adorable kiddos.”

This event also marked the third time that the event was held in the Grande Hall at the Shelby County Arts Council, which allowed the crowd ample area to move around and enjoy the festivities.  The use of the venue marks a level of cooperation between the beautification board, the SCAC and the community.

“We thank you all,” Davis said. “These fundraisers allow us to do so many things for downtown and throughout the city of Columbiana that we might not otherwise have the budget to do. When you see us downtown working, planting flowers and fun things like that—these guys are the ones who support us doing that.”