Old times make good times in Wesley Saturday dances draw a crowd

WESLEY – Maurice Bean travels 60 miles each way from Topsfield every other Saturday night for a few hours that remind him of the way life used to be.

His destination is the Hillside Family Restaurant, the place on top of the hill along Route 9. Precisely at 8 p.m. when the Old-Timers Band begins to play, Bean and the rest who head for the Hillside ease into their regular routine of relaxing and remembering.

The dances feature music from the 1930s and ’40s. The band, full of brass, plays until 11 p.m. When it takes just a single break at 9:45, the line to the ladies room grows long.

Drawing 50 or 60 regulars and a handful of newcomers each time, the dances qualify as the best-kept secret of how to enjoy a Saturday night Down East.

“We come out of the woodwork for this,” said Philip Rose, who has to use a boat to reach any road from his island home in Machiasport.

The dances run between April and late fall, as long as Duane and Sheila Geel, the building owners, can keep the water on without the pipes freezing. They try to stretch the season through Christmas, if it’s not too cold.

The building where the dances are held adjoins the restaurant, which for years served as the town’s Grange Hall. Wesley had a tradition of dances upstairs at the Grange Hall.

But the upstairs dance floor got so crowded that the side building was built in 1959. The dances then moved downstairs to their current location.

They fell by the wayside in the ’70s, and the Geels revived them four summers ago. Now couples, widows and widowers come from as far as Bangor, Ellsworth, Jonesport, Calais, Baileyville and even Danforth.

Those who know about the dances appreciate them for their policy of no smoking, no alcohol. There’s also no air conditioning.

The high time on the hill is also a hot time. Duane Geel folded up a cardboard popcorn box and used it as a fan.

Other men used handkerchiefs to wipe away the sweat. Ceiling fans spun, and so did the ladies.

This crowd is largely the older generation, where the men know all the steps and the women follow.

For $8 apiece or $15 a couple, an evening with the Old-Timers makes everyone feel years younger.

“I love to hear this music,” Maurice Bean said. “To me, it’s just like going to a dance in the 1940s, when people danced together. Today’s younger people don’t dance. They just shake their shoulders.”

At 84 and using a cane, Bean says he’s too old to dance. Besides, he comes alone.

But he revels in the music of the night perhaps more than anyone else. He sits close to the band, singing the words to the big-brass tunes of yesterday.

Usually he sings too quietly for anyone but himself to hear. When the band asks him up on the stage to join them at the microphone, he’s a hit.

He’s among his peers. Frank “Diddy” Hall of Machias, the trombonist, is 81. Alvin Hall of Whiting, on tenor sax, is 75. His trumpet-playing brother, Hovey Hall of Lubec, is 72. The Halls aren’t related to Diddy Hall, but have been playing music with each other since they were teenagers.

Don Parker of Lubec plays the drums, and Charlie Fritz of East Machias plays the guitar. Lottie Geel of Jonesboro is the usual pianist, but this night, Alden Mills of Machias sits in for her.

Geel missed the evening because she was in the hospital, so Patricia Hall, Alvin’s wife, passed around a get-well card. She insisted it be signed by everyone in the room, first-timers included.

“We’re like family here,” she said.

Many evenings, as evidence that all dancers enjoy each other’s company, birthday or anniversary cakes end up on a table or two.

“Oh, we have a good time,” said Alvin Hall, the leader of the band. “It’s just like a senior citizens’ party. Some come there because they think it might be their last time.”

Several members of the band have played together for more than 40 years.

They know how to fill a dance floor. “I Don’t Know Why I Love You Like I Do” and the “Tennessee Waltz” are two tunes that put the mood right.

The old folks love it, and not just for the music and socializing. It’s also one place where a cup of coffee costs only 50 cents.