The Red Carpet City of the South will be awash with red hats and purple dresses this weekend, as a pair of local Red Hat Society chapters welcome about 250 of their fellow Red Hatters from across Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama for a spring fling with Old South flavor.

“Basically, it’s going to be a bunch of women over 50 dressing up and having fun,” said Magnolia Red Hatters Queen Mother Ann Wilds, who, along with members of the Dixie Divas chapter, organized the regional rendezvous.

Since the first chapter was formed 13 years ago, the Red Hat Society has grown into the largest social organization for women in the world, with approximately 70,000 members representing 24,000 chapters across the United States and 25 countries. Vicksburg has five registered chapters, with memberships ranging from a handful to about a baker’s dozen. Each chapter has a Queen Mother, usually the founder.

The society is strictly for women 50 and older, though dates and spouses are invited to some events, and the chapter meetings and regional gatherings are strictly for fun. Red Hat Society chapters might do charity work in their communities, as a few of the local groups do around the holidays, but it is not a requirement for national affiliation.

“The only rule is there are no rules,” said Dixie Divas Queen Mother Susan Beard. “It’s all about having fun.”

The Red Hatters converging in Vicksburg this weekend represent 33 chapters, mostly from Mississippi. They’ll gather at Hawkins United Methodist Church on Saturday for a day of laughs, food, live music, dancing — even an old time swimsuit competition.

“Well, it’s not bikinis,” said Wilds with a laugh. “In other words, we don’t show much skin. A couple of our husbands are going to be the judges.”

Along with the traditional red hats and purple dresses Red Hatters are known for wearing, others will be dressed in Antebellum, Victorian and other period clothing, as per the theme Southern Belles Gather in Vicksburg.

For Magnolia Red Hatter Cyndi Graham, the society’s appeal has always been about getting dolled up in period clothing and having a laugh.

“I’ve always loved to dress up and get bling-blinged,” said Graham. “I saw the group before I was 50 and I immediately knew I wanted to join, and as soon as I turned 50 I called Ann and said, ‘I’m ready.’”

Red Hatters will begin arriving in Vicksburg on Friday, and most will stay throughout the weekend. Outside the gathering Saturday, Wilds said the ladies will be out and about on the town, visiting local attractions and “having fun any way they can.”

The seeds for The Red Hat Society were planted in 1997 when Sue Ellen Cooper of California gave a friend a red fedora for her 55th birthday, along with a copy of a poem by Jenny Joseph called “Warning.” The opening lines of the poem read: “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple/With a red hat that doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.”

Cooper repeated the gift several times, and eventually some of her friends decided to organize a tea party at which they’d all wear their red hats and purple dresses. The gatherings became a regular occurrence, and when the group had grown to include more members than could comfortably fit around a tea table, Cooper — who has since become the Exalted Queen Mother — encouraged women to start their own chapters.

“The Red Hat Society began as a result of a few women deciding to greet middle age with verve, humor and elan,” Cooper says on the society’s website. “We believe silliness is the comedy relief of life, and since we are all in it together, we might as well join red-gloved hands and go for the gusto together.”

The society has five loose goals: fun, freedom, friendship, fulfillment and fitness. In recent years, it has expanded beyond tea parties and luncheons to host health fairs and international conventions. In 2006, a Broadway show inspired by the Red Hat Society called “Hats! The Musical” began production.