WARWICK — Warwick residents will get a blast from the past Friday night during the Recreation Committee’s first-ever 1950s-style Sock Hop.
A sock hop is an informal dance often held for teenagers in the 1950s in which dancers had to remove their shoes and dance in socks or stockings to protect the varnished floor of a school gymnasium and to get better slides in certain dance styles.
According to Leanne Limoges, a member of the Warwick Recreation Committee, the sock hop will be held in Warwick Community School’s gymnasium from 6 to 9 p.m., and will be as true to the nature of the period as possible.
Attendees are invited to dance to 50s music, enjoy period snacks, dress in period appropriate clothes and arrive in classic vehicles.
“We’d love for people to bring their old cars, park them out front and pop the hoods,” Limoges said. The Warwick Fire Department will bring its recently retired 1957 Dodge fire truck to display.
Limoges said Denyse Abruzzise Dar, another member of the Recreation Committee, came up with the idea, and that the committee has been working on the event for four months.
“She wanted to do something fun for the town that would bring the older generation and the younger generation together, and have it be educational for the younger generation,” Limoges said.
The event will be used as a fundraiser for the Recreation Committee, its first major fundraiser in a long time, Limoges said. Though admission is free, Limoges hopes to raise money through the sale of burgers, french fries, chicken tenders, root beer floats and old-fashioned sundaes made with Snow’s Ice Cream and topped with homemade butterscotch and chocolate sauces. Donations will also be accepted.
Limoges said the money will allow the Recreation Committee to offer other events such as movie nights, zumba classes, yoga classes, guided hikes, game nights, ballroom dancing lessons and fencing tutorials.
“We’re going to talk to people at the (Sock Hop) and see what they’d like to see,” Limoges said.
Limoges said the members of the Recreation Committee also wanted to see the Warwick Community School be used as a community resource.
“The Warwick school isn’t used a lot as a community center,” she said. “The gym is just perfect for a sock hop.”
Christine Rouleau, a lifelong dancer living in Athol, will provide free dance lessons during the Sock Hop. She will teach: “The Stroll,” whereby boys form one line, girls form another and two dance partners dance up the middle from one end of the lines to the other; “The Mashed Potato,” which consists of rapid, side-to-side leg movements; and swing dancing.
Limoges said attendees can wear whatever they would like, but are invited to think of the movie “Grease” when picking out their clothes. She invites attendees to put together period-appropriate outfits based on old photos they’ve seen and wear their hair differently than they usually would.
Limoges added the Sock Hop will be a great way to kick off Warwick Old Home Days, to be held this Saturday and Sunday, when traditionally there haven’t been Friday night events. She hopes the Sock Hop can be done annually.
“It’ll only get bigger and better,” she said.