10/29/08: Head to the Sock Hop!

Been to a sock hop lately?

Probably not or, depending on your age, maybe even never. That’s because sock hops have been hard to find for the last 50 years or so.

Sock hops were the rage in the nation’s high schools in the 1950s and into the 1960s, with dances held in school gymnasiums for young dancers who were shoeless to spare wooden floors from scratches and scuff marks by hard-soled shoes. Music was usually provided by records spun by locally popular radio disc jockeys, and young people were fueled by soft drinks, popcorn, and the like while they did the dances of the day and tried mightily to impress members of the opposite sex.

So popular were they that the phrase made its way into popular music. The group Danny and the Juniors’ 1958 chart topper was “At the Hop,” for example, and Little Richard’s 1956 hit “Reddy Teddy” included the lines: “All the flattop cats and the dungaree dolls/ Are headed to the gym for the sock hop ball”

The Friends of the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra aims to recreate that simpler time, for an evening at least, with its Family Sock Hop, a fundraiser to benefit the orchestra. The event will be from 5:00 to 7:00 PM on November 8 at the Moose Lodge at 2307 Lakeside Drive in Lynchburg.

The entire family is invited to this event. Just as at the “original” sock hops, there’ll be a disc jockey providing music, including classic hits from the 50s and 60s, and free soft drinks, hot dogs, pizza, cotton candy and popcorn. Members of local Shag clubs will do dance demonstrations, there’ll be hula-hooping, and a contest for the best 1950s-style dress (just think “Grease,” or for pointers on dressing 50s, see the Lynchburg Symphony Web site at www.lynchbugsymphony.com).

Tickets are $50 for the first two family members, and $10 for each additional ticket. They’re available online at www.lynchburgtickets.com or at Aylors Farm and Garden, the Macon Bookshop, The Summit, Arthur’s Jewelry in Wyndhurst, Givens Books, Hardwick’s Gifts downtown, and at the Lynchburg Visitors Center downtown.

Special discounts for school or scout groups, sports teams, clubs, or other groups are available by calling (434) 384-2947, or (434) 384-5675.

Organized in 2001, the Friends of the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra provides volunteer and financial support to the LSO. The organization has raised more than $125,000 for the orchestra, and Friends members volunteer to usher at LSO music events, provide snacks for orchestra rehearsals, and house out-of-town musicians.