SHINE UP YOUR WHEELS & KICK UP YOUR HEELS Ellsworth eatery carves niche by catering to car, dance aficionados in family climate

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It’s Wednesday, and Abraham Bagley has his dancing clothes on. He and his wife, Carol, drove up in their truck from Morrill to Jordan’s Snack Bar in Ellsworth. They arrived just as spit-polished fancy cars revved into the parking lot and as hungry families were placing orders for grilled hot dogs and mountains of fried seafood. But the Bagleys came for the music. It’s their only night out to do what comes natural to their country-and-western hearts. They dance.

Most people know Jordan’s for the fried clams and ice cream. And the Bagleys like to eat there, too. But what they really love is Cruise-In night, when the roadside grill features live bands, a parking lot filled vintage autos and a swarm of eatin’ and dancin’ and car-lovin’ folks. Families, couples, singles and people-watchers – some of whom never get out of their cars – make up the festive crowd that swells to as many as 800 at the peak of summer season.

“It’s beautiful,” said Bagley, a 75-year-old retired tree surgeon who grew up in Washington County. “There’s no alcohol, no fighting. I love the music. If it’s country, me and my wife can dance to it. We started dancing 17 years ago at a dance hall in Liberty. The first time we danced, it was like we had been dancing all our lives.”

And dance they did again at a recent Wednesday at Jordan’s when Boothbay’s Bobby Reed and the Wild Horse Band played high-spirited renditions of George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” Brooks & Dunn’s “Boot Scootin’ Boogie,” Alan Jackson’s “Don’t Rock the Jukebox” or Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll.”

That night, Abraham Bagley wore a cowboy hat, a Western vest and jeans. He and Carol had on matching penny loafers (with pennies) that allowed them to slide their four feet as if they really only had two between them. Other dancers wore their work clothes still speckled with paint flecks from the daily grind. Suspenders, construction boots and flannel shirts were as common as tight jeans, fancy skirts, sweat pants or white cowboy boots. But it’s the feet, not the clothes, that make the night.

“It makes you feel good,” said Jimmy Jordan, who, with his wife, Carol, and two sons, has run the snack bar as a family business for 25 years. The menu has always been popular with locals and tourists alike because the offerings, while pricier than some of the area’s seafood shacks, are served with generous portions of food and friendliness. The Ellsworth location just above the Route 1 turnoff for Down East is an easy pullover for drivers. Some diners eat in their cars or in the next-door dining room, one of the four buildings on the Jordan complex. Young children enjoy an outdoor playground, while older ones gather in an arcade, often while their parents are boogying across the parking lot in the dance gazebo.

The Cruise-In nights began almost a decade ago, when Jimmy, whose business sense is as bright as the shine on his red 1967 Pontiac Firebird, saw a similar event in Florida that included specialty cars. Back in Maine, he invited cruisers to his place and planned to offer recorded music. In his self-proclaimed workaholic fashion, he would be the DJ. But Jimmy started with live music, and there was no looking back. Now he books the bands, and he has expanded the gazebo several times to accommodate the crowds, including an adjacent room for line dancers. The additional wall space allows him to display a photo collection of local bands and cars he has featured.

The Jordans don’t require Wednesday night patrons to buy anything – although the couple developed the idea as a way to drum up activity on a traditionally slow night. Their business has been so successful, with as many as 200 dinners served in about a three-hour period, that the Cruise-In night is their way of saying thank you to patrons, many of whom return to eat on other nights of the week. The dancing, the arcade, the playground – the “atmosphere” as Jimmy calls it – are free. For many in the area who can’t afford tickets to concerts or cover fees at dance halls, Cruise-In night is the highlight of the workweek. They snuggle up on the dance floor with their honeys, they meet new honeys or they forget about old ones.

“We work hard for our money to pay our bills,” said Linda Butler, an Ellsworth glove maker who volunteers to teach line dancing every Monday night in the gazebo and then leads the line dancers on Wednesday night. “We come here to forget it all. I’m not money. Later in the summer, you’ll see the tourists. Some of them have money. But for the rest of us, this is it. We wait all winter for this.”

And that includes the car restorers, who generally keep their automotive honeys in garages all winter.

“I grew up a hot rodder,” said Steve Balyeat, who arrived in his 1971 daffodil yellow Porsche 911 and was eager to show off the engine. An artist who designs Web sites, Balyeat motors up from Surry each week to meet up with people who share his passion. “When it comes to Wednesdays at 5, I’m: Let me get in the car,” he said.

About 40 autos were on the lot that evening, but Jordan’s, one of the area’s informal car shows — including Nicky’s Cruisin Diner in Bangor and Just Barb’s in Stockton Springs – may be one of the most popular because of the variety of activities in a concentrated area. For those who show up only to watch, choosing a good vantage point offers views of either the car show or the dancers. Jimmy also sets up chairs for spectators, and vehicles on Route 1 frequently slow down to catch the scene. More than a few are lured by the sight, if not the aroma of fried food.

“People come here happy,” said Jimmy, who works Wednesdays on the lot, partly as parking attendant, partly as troubleshooter – although there is rarely any trouble to shoot. “You know them because you build relationships. They are family. They tell me when they aren’t happy or when they don’t like the band. You know because they leave. But it’s free. You can leave whenever you want.”

Jimmy and Carol Jordan have a strict rule about drinking alcoholic beverages: Don’t. Not on the property. Not on Wednesday, when little kids are running around and families depend on the wholesome fun. Many older couples and reformed heavy drinkers also say they appreciate the absence of alcohol and the rowdiness it can provoke. One couple spoke of being hassled by a drunken man on another local dance floor.

“I haven’t heard any vulgarity, and that means a lot to me,” said Kenneth Rand, an 81-year-old first-timer here with his girlfriend Mae Head Sweet, Ellsworth residents who typically attend dances held by Bangor Singles Club but will now be regulars at Jordan’s.

“It’s good clean fun,” said Barbara MacQuarrie, who went to high school with Jimmy in Ellsworth. She and her husband had front-row seats – and ice cream – in their car near the gazebo. “He’s a heck of a worker. Him and his wife both. He’s awful good, awful good.”

And awful busy. Jimmy started as a cook at the Hilltop House in Ellsworth. That’s where he courted Carol, whom he also knew in high school, and the two of them then opened a country store in Waltham, where they both grew up. After five years, they opened a restaurant in Amherst, and then purchased and refurbished an old takeout on Route 1. It became Jordan’s. At each stop, business has boomed. They don’t advertise, and they don’t have to.

“The heart of it is Jimmy always looking to innovate the business,” said Carol, who oversees about a dozen employees in the kitchen, where the Jordan’s two sons are the cooks. “It’s a give back to the community. It isn’t always about making the money. It’s about making people happy. That’s worth a lot. You’ve got to put your value on what you feel is good for you.”

For the Bagleys, the feel-good part is on the dance floor. They were winding down when Charlene Hooper, daughter of Maine hillbilly star Gene Hooper, stepped onto the stage for an impromptu rendition of “Blue Moon of Kentucky.”

“Let’s have us one more dance, and we’ll go home,” said Abraham taking his wife’s hand.

Jordan’s Snack Bar’s Wednesday Night Cruise-In Entertainment Schedule

Shows go from 6-9 p.m. June-August, 5:30-8:30 p.m. September. Music and dancing are free.

June 7: Frye Mountain Band

June 14: Bushwacker Band

June 21: Danny Harper Show and Band

June 28: Midnight Rose Band

July 5: Freedom Show

July 12: Sammy Angle Show

July 19: Miles to Go Band

July 26: 25th Anniversary Celebration with Debbie Meyers Band and fireworks (rain date: July 27)

Aug. 2:Mainely Country Band

Aug. 9: Route Nine Band

Aug. 16: Surprize Band

Aug. 23: New Society Band

Aug. 30: Danny Harper Band and Show

Sept. 6: Frye Mountain Band

Sept. 13: Miles to Go Band

Sept. 20: Phoenix Band

Sept. 27 Midnight Rose Band