FORT KENT, Maine — If there ever were a time when it was hip to be square in the St. John Valley, it was from the late 1960s to mid-1980s.
That was when the Fort Kent Squares were in their hay day, with weekly lessons, monthly dances and road trips around New England and Canada.
“My husband [Garfield] was not a dancer, but with square dancing you didn’t need to have rhythm,” former Fort Kent Square and retired teacher Venette King said. “The dances were just wonderful social events where we met all sorts of different people.”
King was at the Fort Kent Historical Society last weekend with several other Fort Kent Squares members, who were getting a sneak peek at an upcoming exhibit on the dancers set to open with a reception from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 16.
“This group all started with [former Fort Kent resident] Herman Thibault, who was selling insurance in southern Aroostook in 1967,” Chad Pelletier, Fort Kent Historical Society president, said. “He saw a demonstration down there of square dancing, liked it and asked if someone could come up to the St. John Valley and give lessons.”
Pelletier said square dance caller John Michaud agreed to make the trek to Fort Kent from southern Aroostook, and Thibault immediately set out to recruit dancers.
“You needed 16 couples to make a square,” Pelletier said. “He got them almost immediately, and it just kept growing from there.”
One of the big attractions — other than the dancing — was the fact that it was an alcohol-free event, several former members said.
“One lady told me there was no liquor allowed at any of the dances,” Pelletier said. “Of course, she also said they’d go out and party afterward.”
Monthly dances were at the Fort Kent Elementary School, and King remembers decorating the old gym according the month’s theme. But the group hardly needed the gym or decorations to do-si-do.
“We were ready to dance anywhere, any time,” Rita Pelletier said. “I remember going to a dance held in a potato house in Canada across the border from Fort Fairfield, [and] we’d dance in parades.”
Friends talked Rita Pelletier and her husband Leo into joining.
“They told us we had to try it,” Rita Pelletier said. “Those who were already there and knew what they were doing were so helpful, and whenever we got turned around they would gently turn us back into the right direction.”
Before the squares could Allemande left or bow to a partner, they had to look the part and several of the couples’ matching outfits are part of the historical society’s display.
“Those outfits were expensive to buy, so a lot of us made our own,” King said, pointing to her red-checkered dancing dress. “Of course, mine was many, many pounds ago.”
For the sake of modesty during particularly active twirling on the dance floor, she said, the women wore bloomers under their dresses.
“What did we call our bloomers? I can’t remember,” King asked Rita Pelletier.
“We called them our square dance panties,” Pelletier replied. “Mine were bright red, to match my dress.”
The squares were well-organized, with manuals describing the dance steps, a regular newsletter and a series of badges awarded for various square dancing feats and accomplishments.
“Look at these — we had them for everything,” King said as she leafed through a scrapbook describing the badges.
Dancing in Canada earned the “hands across the border” badge. Dancing at night got the “under the moon” badge. Many, it appeared, were made up as the group went along.
“If you danced in the bathroom, you got a badge,” King said. “Of course, if I was in the bathroom [at a dance] it was because I was sneaking a cigarette and did a little dance while in there,” she added with a laugh.
Then there was the “balloon badge,” given for dancing while wearing balloons, King said with a quick shimmy to demonstrate.
“It was all just so much fun and such a special time,” Lucille Bouchard said. “A really fun group of people.”
The group broke up in the mid 1980s, according to former member Dot Hartt, when a replacement could not be found for caller Woody Olmstead.
“Our arms kind of had to be twisted to start going in the first place,” her husband, Dave Hartt, said. “But we went and they made me president of the group, and then I was hooked.”
Chad Pelletier said the time seemed ripe to honor the Fort Kent Squares, as many are still in the area with stories and artifacts to share.
“I like the idea of being proactive with what we do with our collections,” he said. “I don’t want to wait 50 years to honor something.”
Pelletier also has observed the public’s reaction is much stronger to recent historical events.
“When I post photos [on social media] of something that happened 100 years ago, I’ll get maybe one or two comments,” he said. “But if it’s of something more recent and within people’s memories, the stories and comments come flooding in.”
That’s exactly what was happening last weekend, when the former Fort Kent Squares cleared a space in the historical society building and took Pelletier through some of their old moves.
“Honey Bear — remember Honey Bear?” one dancer called out.
“Oh, yes, that’s when you hug your partner,” King said, taking the hand of the dancer next to her. “We’d need some music, but I think we could all remember how this goes again.”
