r SPRINGVILLE – Belle, the star of Beauty and the Beast, is the epitome of a modern-day princess, organizers for the Springville Museum of Art’s Princess Tea determined.
As a result, they designed this year’s eighth annual Princess Tea to reflect Belle’s v
alues and character. It took place Saturday, August 26, at the museum.
“We have a Princess Tea to involve young people in the community and the museum, and to promote gracious living,” Heather Clyde told Serve Daily. Clyde was the Tea’s organizer.
The museum’s royalty set the stage. Seated and sometimes standing in the foyer of the Springville Museum of Fine Art, Art City Queen Lauryn Davis and her court dressed in their royal gowns – including tiaras – awaited the arrival of the young princesses and welcomed them with photos.
The Art City Queen’s Court included Kylie Sorenson, Heather Naalf, Larissa Chappell, Helen Linford, and Tristan McAfee.
Some visiting princesses – between the ages of 2 and 10 – wore gowns straight out of Disney. Others, their Sunday best. While no white gloves were noticed by Serve Daily, that doesn’t mean none were worn. Belle is a modern-day princess, however, so it is possible hands were bare, the better for the young princesses to work with their fingers.
The princesses’ service project – because all princesses do kind things for others – involved assembling a packet with paper and pen inside, because princesses like to send notes to make their recipients happy or feel better. The recipient of the writing packets was the Dyslexia Reading Center in Springville.
The young princesses also made a bookmark for themselves, because Belle likes to read, and she’s a modern-day princess.
The tea itself took place at round tables in the Springville Art Museum’s Jerald Jacobs Atrium. The greenery around the area, and the spiral staircase that looked as if it were expecting a princess to call out from the tower at the top, provided a fitting setting for the young royals.
Refreshments included pink lemonade, real French macaroons and croissants. The young princesses and adults with them engaged in polite conversation that exhibited the best of manners. Serve Daily heard no interruptions of someone else’s words, no unkind words and of course no arguing.
The Princess Tea has become such a popular event that this year, there were two separate two-hour teas for youngsters.
“It went very well,” Clyde said between the two teas. “Belle would have fit in here today quite nicely.”
