Tea Rose Cottage in Ybor plays host to Alice and her Wonderland friends

Last Thursday in Ybor City, the afternoon's high tea ceremony at the Tea Rose Cottage was a little bit "curiouser" than usual.

Local artists, re-invented as a variety of Lewis Carroll's beloved creations,  invaded the little tea house nestled on the corner of Centinnial Park to share scones, tea, and photo ops prior to a group viewing of the new Tim Burton adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.

Ring-leader Pamela Tipton, who attended the event as the Mad Hatter, says that the group formed when she began hosting tea parties in her home a few years ago.  When one guest arrived fully decked out in costume as her own mother, the tradition stuck so firmly that she "couldn't get people to come as themselves anymore."

Events like this one aren't unusual for Tea Rose Cottage.  

This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2010.