Fancy Nancy Tea delights young readers

IRONWOOD - Young girls, and a few boys, dressed in their best finery on Thursday afternoon to attend the fifth annual Fancy Nancy Tea Party, hosted by the Ironwood Carnegie Library.

The event was in the Ironwood Memorial Building, featuring girls and boys in fancy clothes learning more about Nancy, a young girl who loves fancy things.

"Fancy Nancy" is a series of stories by Jane O'Conner, following the young girl's adventures to make things more fancy in life. Nancy likes to dress extravagantly, wearing boas, ruby slippers, tutus, fairy wings and fuzzy slippers.

In addition to fancy clothes, Nancy also likes fancy words, and to help her family become more fancy, she holds a class for them.

According to Lynne Wiercinski, of the library, the tea party, is the "event of the season" for area children. It has become so popular over the last few years that it had to be moved from the library to a larger space.

Each attendee was treated to a tea party, complete with tea made from apple juice and clear soda, small cakes and cookies. After the tea, children were able to make magic wands, listen to a reading of "Fancy Nancy," learn about fancy words and take home a tea cup of their own, filled with jewelry for them to wear.

Wiercinski said parents have commented on how the children behave when they attend the party.

"They are formal and polite," Wiercinski said. "They are wearing beautiful clothes, in a beautiful space and they respond to that. The kids just love this event. They ask all year for this."