People in California, except in some of the cities, dressed pretty casually, and most of the time we did not need hats to keep our heads warm. We needed them more often to keep the sun out of our eyes and prevent sunstroke and sunburn. The picture above was taken one year at what was then the Paso Robles Festival of the Arts, now known as the Paso Arts Fest. If you click on the photo to see it full size, you will see that many of the people working on the sand sculpture and those around them are wearing hats. Most of these hats are more functional than fashionable.
Next we have Anne Laddon, without whom we would not have Studios on the Park or the art festivals in Paso Robles. She has lots of help, but she got the ball rolling and does a lot of the work. I had to look at a few more photos to be sure this was Anne, since her face doesn't show here. She is also working on a Quick Draw painting. I chose this view because it shows off her hat, which is both fashionable and functional.
Julie Dunn, on the right, is one of the many artists exhibiting her art in the park. I liked her hat. Like Anne's it's both fashionable and functional. It does a good job of shading her face and protecting her head from the heat.
I'd like to show you a couple of other men who were at this event wearing hats. The first is a model for one of the plein air artists during the Quick Draw. I believe the finished work had the word "Cowboy" as part of the title. Do you like his hat? I don't have his name. You can click the photo to enlarge it for a better look at his hat. I didn't crop for just the hat because I just couldn't leave the tree out of the picture.
