The Village Sweeties, the local chapter of the national Sweet Potato Queens, will host a breakfast next month to benefit the Marion Therapeutic Riding Association, which provides horseback riding opportunities for children who are physically, mentally or emotionally challenged.
The event from 7 to 10 a.m. Nov. 7 at Tierra del Sol Country Club is part of the Village Sweeties mission of raising money for children’s charities.
Cost is $7 for a charitable donation and the breakfast includes pancakes, waffles, sausage, bacon and coffee. Half of the proceeds from the 50/50 tickets, which are $1 or six for $5, will benefit the riding association and half will be distributed in prizes. The 50/50 drawing will be Nov. 7 at the country club and winners need not be present.
The queens will appear at Lake Sumter Landing market nights this month to distribute tickets and seek donations Oct. 20, 27 and 29.
The group also has raised money for Camp Boggy Creek in Eustis, a camp for children with serious illnesses, and helped at events sponsored by the local chapter of Disabled American Veterans and other groups, said Boss Queen Cindy Moser. This month, the queens will be helping with a Villages Honor Flight and they recently appeared in the Italian Parade in Spanish Springs.
Moser said the Village Sweeties also assists with fund-raising activities of other chapters.
Founded over six years ago by Rhonda Van Voorhies, who since moved out of The Villages, the Village Sweeties has 14 members and is one of 6,000 chapters of the Sweet Potato Queens, mostly in the United States.
Moser said the queens often wear tiaras and crowns and prefer flashy clothing.
“It’s a sisterhood,” she said. “It’s a small group and we hope to keep it small.”
The national group was started in the early 1980s in Jackson, Miss., by humor author Jill Conner Browne, who still reigns over the organization. Her books include The Sweet Potato Queens Book of Love, Fat is the New 30: The Sweet Potato Queens Guide to Coping with (the crappy parts of) Life and God Save the Sweet Potato Queens.
Book chapters offer advice on topics such as how to maintain the queenly look, how to get any man to do your bidding and recipes highlighting the four main food groups of sweet, salty, fried and au gratin.
In March, queens from all chapters flock to Jackson for the annual Zippety-Doo-Dah Parade and the Million Queen March Weekend
“We take over the Hilton,” Moser said, adding that the weekend draws about 800 to 1,000 queens.
