Attendees from various Carbon County towns came to the Mauch Chunk Ballroom in Jim Thorpe to experience Alice in Wonderland’s “Mad Hatter’s Tea Party” recently in a very special garden.

Karliene Zack, the director of the Mauch Chunk Museum, organized the event, which was based on the story of Alice in Wonderland.

The guests enjoyed tea sandwiches with a variety of hot and cold teas or lemonade beverages in a Mad Hatter theme. The tables were decorated with various designs of teapots with spring silk flowers.

Various posters were placed around the room of the characters from the story: the Mad Hatter, White Rabbit, Alice, Cheshire Cat, and Alice with the Red Queen of Hearts.

Placed on the ballroom’s stage was a large paper mâché caterpillar sitting atop a mushroom which was designed and created by Zack.

The festivities began with a short dialogue between the garden’s inhabitants - the White Rabbit (Barbara Mumma), the Mad Hatter (Michael DeHart), the Red Queen of Hearts (Joanne Bondi), and Alice (Alisa Dupuy).

Dupuy told the true story of the real Alice, and the writing of the story book by Lewis G. Carroll. She included some very interesting historical elements of the time period from the mid to late 1800s and up until the present.

Following lunch guests could play croquet in the rose garden in the Ballroom’s choir loft. The mallets were pink flamingos with their feet hitting various colored balls through the deck of card placed folded on the court.

The sandwiches were provided by Cindy’s Deli of Lehighton and the sweet treats were created by Cindy Zack.

For information about future events or the Ballroom, call the Mauch Chunk Museum and Cultural Center at 570-325-9190 or visit https://mauchchunkmcc.org.

The museum is located at 41 W. Broadway, Jim Thorpe, and is open for tours from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sundays through the end of September. It is then open daily in October and Fridays through Sundays November and December.