VIEW MORE PHOTOS | Frank Buda’s Easter Bonnet Brunch
As the renowned Armorettes Drag Races unfolded at Burkhart’s, another Easter tradition—less rowdy perhaps, but no less festive—unfolded down the street at Frank Buda’s Ansley Park home: The Bonnet Brunch.
Some 200 friends and neighbors gathered for the catered affair to enjoy the Sunday sun on the lanai with holiday hats, cocktails and merrymaking. What started as an activity for Buda and his daughter when she visited each Easter as a young girl has flourished over the last 24 years into one of the lesser kept secrets in gay Atlanta.
In fact, the Bonnet Brunch may be best known for bringing people together from all walks of life, gay and straight alike.
“It’s been such a tradition in Ansley Park, and people have really made it a mainstay,” Buda says. “What I love about it is that the group is extremely diverse. Of course it’s fun, but beyond that, it’s a large cross-section of people that gets on very well.
“It’s great by virtue of the fact that sexuality has so little to do with how people interact,” he adds. “People always tell me they had the best time talking to ‘X’ or ‘Y,’ and that they never would have met them if it wasn’t for this.”
Buda still makes an activity of the planning, organizing the food and refreshements, risqué door prizes, and of course, the bonnets. And while rumor had it that this may be the event’s last year because the house is on the market, Buda bristles at the thought.
“Oh no. I’ve been in Ansley for 17 or 18 years, but I had it at my last home before this, and I’ll have it next year whether it’s here and the house hasn’t sold, or wherever I end up. I’m not going far,” he says.
Photos by Sher Pruitt
