Lillian’s Tea Room
For a couple of dollars you can get a cup of tea, a biscuit and endless conversation. Lillian’s Tea Room in Crystal City is where friendships are created and grow. The tea room is filled everyday with laughter and conversation.
Building Friendships
When Lillian Keays retired from her job at the Royal Bank in 1990 at the age of 65, she wasn’t ready to stop working just quite yet. Lillian’s love for the small town led her to do something that she felt would give back to her community. Lillian opened Lillian’s Tea Room in the old Manitoba Telecom Systems building on the main street of Crystal City.
Lillian had noticed over the years neighbors were not spending as much time visiting as they once did. Lillian wanted to create a place where people could drop in for a visit, and where neighbours could catch up. Lillian also felt that the tea room would be good for her after retirement, keeping her busy during the days.
“And I didn’t know if I was crazy or not, but I knew that I liked to bake very plain fare of course, none of the fancy stuff, and we’d have coffee and scones.”
For the first five years of operation Lillian rented the building, but when it became clear that the tea room was a success, Lillian bought the building. The Tea Room was doing exactly what she intended: it was a social place bringing people together, and for Lillian it has been a fun adventure.
“It was filling a need for so many people and that was the idea right from the beginning.”
A Familiar Place
The small building only has four tables, but at coffee time on a weekday the room is filled with conversation and laughter. Women from town and from surrounding farms, stop in almost every morning, while others arrange to gather at the tea room regularly on Friday mornings. People begin trickling in at eight o’clock and the room is full by ten o’clock. Lillian has kept the tea room very simple over the years, and has found success in the friendships that have grown in this modest space.
For the past 15 years Lillian has been at the tea room at 6:30 every morning to bake the day’s treat of scones, simple cakes, biscuits or muffins. The Tea Room has only been closed a few times over the years for a broken ankle, and for a vacation or two.
A Tradition Continued
The tea cups, saucers, creamers and sugar cup came from what Lillian had collected over the years. Lillian didn’t want her tea cups to go unused collecting dust in the back of a cupboard; she wanted them to be valued by friends. The cups and saucers don’t always match at the tea room and over the years cups have lost their gold rim. But this makes Lillian smile because she knows that they have been used and enjoyed. Ten very special gold rimmed plates hang on the walls of the tea room for all to see. These particular plates once belonged to Lillian’s grandmother.
The kitchen came equipped with two sinks, but not much else, so Lillian brought in a fridge, oven and table for extra counter space. Some of the tables and chairs came from Lillian’s home, while others were given to her from friends and family. The paint is chipping off them now but those who come to Lillian’s enjoy the character it adds and tell her not to change a thing.
Lillian is able to pick up most of her supplies like the teas and baking ingredients at the local grocery store. The coffee she gets from a delivery truck that comes around town once a month.
Gathering Places
Lillian believes that a gathering place such as her tea room or the town’s restaurant is crucial for the survival of any small town; these places are social hubs of the rural community. They provide a place for people to meet, to talk and a place for support.
“Let’s face it if you don’t have a restaurant you don’t have a town, you could do without everything else but you couldn’t do without a restaurant.”
Women come into Lillian’s and may sit around a table talking amongst themselves for a couple hours. When they leave they thank her for “her couch”; it’s a therapeutic place for many women.
“You may come in a stranger but you never leave as one.
“I think that that is where the success has been, I didn’t take it on to make money, because when I took it on at that stage in my life it was just a place for people to come and visit.”
One of the most enjoyable times for Lillian is when young people come into the tea room, or when people who once visited the tea room as children come years later as adults, remembering fond times sitting in the tea room with their mothers and grandmothers.
“It’s just like Heaven sent when they do that, so I know that I have made memories for them.”
Lillian tells the story of a young man, about 17 years old, who came into the tea house one day. It was towards the end of the day and the light was shining in through the window so Lillian couldn’t see the boy’s face and she wondered why a young man would be coming into the Tea Room. She asked the boy if she could help him and he told her he remembered coming into the Tea Room with his great grandmother and they had tea at the table in the corner.
Lillian soon recognized the boy; they sat and talked for a while. When Lillian rang some money into the cash register he recalled the story of when he was small and she had held him up to the register and he had punched the numbers. Before the boy left she gave him the biscuits left over from the day.
“That just absolutely made my day, well because to start with, a boy that age to come it meant a lot because I would have never thought they would have ever thought about it.”
Spreading the Word
Lillian advertises in the Country Register, a small newspaper created in Kipling, Saskatchewan which advertising tea houses, quilting, knitting and other craft stores from across the prairies. But she hasn’t had to do much advertisement because the tea room is well known throughout the area.
Special Days
For special occasions such as Christmas and birthdays Lillian hosts wine and cheese parties in the tea room. On such occasions she will open later in the afternoon and carry on until nine o’clock. She does this only for special occasions, because a liquor permit is required for the wine and cheese parties. At Christmas time Lillian serves hot apple cider to show her appreciation to the community for all their support.
Community Contact
Lillian Keays
Lillian’s Tea Room
212 Broadway St. S.
Crystal City, MB
R0K 0N0
