Sweet Tea Queens
The Sweet Tea Queens are a group of women based in Spartanburg, South Carolina, dedicated to the pursuit of fun. The Boss Sweet Tea Queen, Carolyn Steinecke, leads a group of about ten area women. They all wear matching costumes and accessories, consisting of a green sequin “beauty queen” dress, tiara, boots, sunglasses and accessories. The queens come from all walks of life; a number of them are notable business and organizational leaders.
The Sweet Tea Queens are a chapter of the Sweet Potato Queens, based in Jackson, MS. Each chapter assumes its own theme and designs its own costumes. Some of the chapters participate in parades and fundraisers in their local communities. The Sweet Potato Queens concept has been explained and made popular by a series of books by Jill Conner Browne of Jackson, who came up with the idea in 1982. It is a belief in a sisterhood, promoting self esteem and positive thinking appealing to mostly middle-aged middle-class women. In 2005, almost ten thousand women dressed up in costumes and came to Jackson for their St. Patrick’s Day parade, proceeds from which benefits a children’s hospital in the area.
The Sweet Tea Queens from Spartanburg, South Carolina are a very active chapter which has repeatedly appeared at festivals and events to raise funds for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. The Sweet Tea Queens have their own professional float to ferry them through local parades, featuring the queens dancing to music that emanates from an on-board sound system. When they appear on behalf of charity organizations at fundraising events, they are often staffing a booth or running a contest. In addition, the queens often make appearances at area malls. Among the parades on the queens’ regular schedule are the Cowpens, SC Mighty Moo parade, the Gaffney, SC Peach Festival, Hendersonville, NC’s King Apple parade, and a number of upstate South Carolina Christmas Parades.
In addition to the group of queens, several of the STQ's husbands and boyfriends are associated with the chapter by attending meetings and assisting with other chapter functions.
Having been compared to other groups like the Red Hat Society and the YaYa Sisterhood, the Sweet Tea Queens see themselves as “belles gone bad”. In their “regular lives”, they are teachers, nurses and business leaders. But when they put on the green sequins, these mothers and wives become disco-dancing “showgirls” for a few hours and have more fun than many do in a lifetime.
They have appeared in feature articles in the Spartanburg Herald Journal, South Carolina Magazine, Travel & Leisure, Belle magazine and others. They have also been guests on WSPA-FM's morning show a number of times. They were recently featured on Charter Cable's "Talk Of The Town"show.