A tea party to remember hits The Center

COLFAX -The Center was packed and decorated bringing in mothers, grandmothers and granddaughters dressed in their Sunday best for a tea party on Saturday, May 11.

The Friends of the Libraries annual Afternoon Tea and Silent Auction brought in a good turnout this year according to Whitman County event Organizer Nanette Nebe.

"I feel like the news of the tea from last year has spread," she said, adding that this year they were able to see families bringing in three generations.

For several it was their first time at the afternoon tea. "So far it's a lot of fun. I love seeing the tables set up. Cute kids running around," said Heidi Mills.

Nebe said some people brought their own favorite teas, sharing them with everyone; and several families brought their own personally made trays.

One table, decked out in blue, had made trays specifically for the tea party.

"One of my daughters is serving," said Shannon Gfeller, who was enjoying tea with her mother -in-law Jill Gfeller and her other two daughters Jaycee and Jenna.

Nebe said that there were three courses coming out from Caterer Ginny Millar.

"The next one is gonna have cucumber," Jaycee Gfeller said, "It's my favorite."

Upon entering The Center, families and friends could be seen taking complementary photos from Simply Blessed, with many more set to take photos commemorating the party.

The Afternoon Tea started in 2023 to honor Bettie Steiger and the Steiger family who had held high teas in the 1990s in the Pleasant Times Antique Shop in Endicott.

"I feel like Bettie would have been proud of this event," Nebe said.

Whitman County Library Director Cody Allen read a poem written by Bettie Steiger from her book "My Life in Poetry" during the event.

The event fundraised to help support summer reading and programs facilitated by the fourteen branches of the Whitman County Library.

A raffle after the festivities was held with Peggy Moore winning a set of hand embroidered tea towels by Friends of the Libraries Treasurer Clancy Pool and the unused leftover tea from the event.

Winning the kids raffle was Draven Krohmer. "He looked so sharp, and I loved how he matched his family to the tea," Nebe said.