Valentine Dinner Dance

On the Saturday night before Valentine’s Day, the Hospitality Commission sponsors a Valentine Dinner Dance open to all adults but spotlighting married couples. While this event originated as a dance only, it was felt by the commission a number of years ago, that this would be an appropriate occasion at which to honor couple married certain numbers o years with an “evening out.” Currently the couples being honored with free tickets for the evening are those married one, ten, twenty-five, forty, fifty years and all years beyond fifty.

For this purpose the dance became a dinner dance with the entrée being catered in various years by caterers and restaurants in the area. The Hospitality Commission prepares the salad bar and serves desserts as well as making favors and decoration the Activity Center and dining tables.

The evening, for the couples being honored, begins when the couples arrive at church and receive their liturgy booklets, corsages and boutonnieres. They are then directed to their reserved seating for Mass. At the end of Mass, Father bestows a special blessing on the couples being honored and they then follow him to the Gathering Space where they receive the congratulations of relatives, friends and other “family” members. Next they proceed to the Activity Center where pre-dinner refreshments are served and dinner music is provided. Once dinner is over, he begins the dancing by inviting the couples who have been married the longest to take the dance floor first. They are soon joined by other to dance the night away.

Also, during the course of the evening, Polaroid pictures are taken and presented to each couple in attendance as a souvenir of the evening.