Lura Turner Homes will host “A Harvey Girls High Tea” March 4. The organization’s biggest fundraiser of the year, this year’s high tea will pay homage to the spirit of the Harvey Girls, with the hopes that former Girls from the Winslow Chapter will be able to be in attendance at the event. Given that most of these women are in their 80s and 90s, their attendance has not yet been confirmed, however.
According to the Arizona Memory Project website, entrepreneur Fred Harvey opened a series of eating houses along the Santa Fe Railway, the Harvey Houses, which evolved into America’s first restaurant chain. The company operated from 1876 through the 1960s and introduced innovations such as the refinement of dining in the West and the widespread employment of women known as “Harvey Girls.” Winslow, Arizona, boasted three Harvey Houses, including La Posada Hotel.
Traditional Harvey Girl uniforms were considered too severe for the hotel’s southwestern setting, the Memory Project said, so colorful appliquéd aprons were introduced during World War II. Over the years, many Winslow Harvey Girls left service to marry local railroaders, ranchers, and businessmen and settle in town, where generations of their descendants still reside.
Lura Turner Homes’ mission is to provide adults with disabilities a safe, enriching, loving family environment with the purpose of ensuring their health, happiness, security, and the fulfillment of their highest potential. The 2023 High Tea fundraiser will assist the organization in that mission.
Visit www.luraturnerhomes.org to learn more about the organization and find event details.
