Let's Have A Barn Dance!

The night before my wedding at Squabetty, we had a square dance, as was an annual tradition in our family, in the barn. My parents hired a caller and after the barbeque, we swung our partners, do-ss-doed and sashayed late into the night. The next day, the music changed from contra to good old rock - n-roll with the Throbulators belting out music from the 80s. The big wood barn floor, pulsed as we danced and danced. It was perfect. By the end of the night my legs were spaghetti. Barn dances were popular celebrations in the late 1800’s after a Barn Raisin’ Party, during which neighbors came to help build the barn. Since then, dancing in the barn has become an integral part of Squabetty weddings. We love to dance too, but 4 for a dance party doesn’t work really well. So one year we invited high school friends and danced to a classmate’s band. And that was the beginning of an idea that grew over the years. We know that the land around Squabetty is well walked by neighbors and we welcome their watchful eye on the place. We are grateful for their care. To thank them and have an excuse for a barn dance,  we invite neighbors and  friends and some years, past renters, to enjoy a summer evening cookout and barn dance. King Me, as well as Red Hot Juba, play tunes that get people out on the dance floor. And there are those who prefer to dance in the grass outside of the wide open big barn doors, out of the limelight, under the stars. One couple came a couple summers ago because the year before, on that very night, they were married at Squabetty. So they chose to spend their first anniversary picnicing on the lawn and sharing another dance in the barn. DO it again, the neighbors say as they wind their way down the mountain...and we will. ... we may not be celebrating the raisin’ of a barn, but we are celebrating community and the gratitude we feel for our neighbors.