IMU 'Hat Lady' sports different crazy cap every day

Mary Frohliger, more commonly referred to as the “Hat Lady,” has shown up for work in the Indiana Memorial Union Market sporting a hat every day for the past 10 years.

But those hats do not include caps or fedoras, nor do they include any other type of commonplace hat.

Instead, Frohliger’s hat collection, which she said currently contains at least 100, is made up of unique novelty hats.

These include a horned Viking cap and a chicken hat complete with legs that dangle down to her midsection.

It is no wonder the title of “Hat Lady” is welded to Frohliger’s identity.

Frohliger has lived in Bloomington since she was seven years old. She moved from Indianapolis with her seven siblings, including her twin brother who, she jokes, “wears hats too – but that’s because he’s bald.”

Frohliger said she has always been bright and cheery, and that her personality and style are best described as “eccentric.”

Though Frohliger has been an IU employee for 27 years, Frohliger did not start wearing her hats until about 10 years ago.

One day, Frohliger said she came into work, as hatless as she had been for years, with a small, colorful sticker on her name tag.

Upset about this, her boss made her take the sticker off, forbidding any future stickers.

Frohliger arrived to work the following day with a not-so-subtle addition to her uniform: a vibrant, oversized hat in the shape of a flower that framed her face.

As she expected, her boss told her she was not allowed to wear the hat anymore.

But it was too late.

So many people had already seen and loved her hat.

They began to send e-mails to her boss, who eventually gave in due to high demand.
Frohliger said that she has worn a flashy hat ever since.

Amy Stewart, Frohliger’s co-worker and friend, backed this up.

Stewart said that she has seen a hat “every single day” since she began working at IU
a year ago.

She said her collection has grown out-of-control throughout the years.

The hats take up a lot of space in her home, and she even keeps a few backup hats under the cash register desk in the cafeteria.

Frohliger fans have even gone so far as to contribute to her collection.

This includes journalism professor Jim Bright, whose contribution, a wolf hat, rivals Frohliger’s chicken hat for her favorite.

Bright said he met Frohliger about three years ago in the IMU cafeteria.

“I was standing at the end of the line, and Mary was wearing one of her chicken hats,” he said. “I yelled, ‘Hurry up, Chicken Lady! We got a line here!’ She looked over, smiled, and we’ve been friends ever since.”

Bright said he was with his wife at a Wyoming national park when he spotted the wolf hat.

“I’m gonna buy that,” he said.

“For who?” his wife asked.

“The Chicken Lady,” he said, with a huge grin on his face.

Bright said he went into the IMU carrying the hat in a bag.

“When I opened the bag, Mary’s eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning,” he said.
Bright said she excitedly took the hat out of the bag, put in on her head and howled like a wolf, putting a smile on the face of everyone in the cafeteria.

Bright said that Frohliger is “the quintessential extrovert” and “somebody who is passionate about what she does.”

Some people might find her hats to be overly quirky, but Frohliger said her craziness isn’t limited to her hat collection.

“You should see my yard,” she said.