NORWAY – Lesley Dean says every town needs a dress up affair and to that end she and several community movers and shakers created the Horseman’s Ball.

“We haven’t had a dress up affair since they stopped having the Hospital Ball,” Dean said. “Every community needs a dress up affair. It’s something people can look forward to.”

The Horseman’s Ball will be held from 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday at the Norway Armory on Elm Street.

Dean said music by the Blue Willow Band will take people back to the Big Band Era and feature some present day favorites.

Mary A. Bancroft said the last of the hospital dances was held in at the Summit Hotel in Bethel in the early 1990s.

“It was a fund-raiser for the hospital auxiliary and we did it for about three years in a row,” Bancroft said. “Then the popularity died out. Prior to that, the hospital auxiliary had dances up until the late ’70s.

“Those dances were very popular,” she said. “A lot of people would plan dinner parties before and then it would be on to the dance afterward.”

There will be no dinner at the Horseman’s Ball but setups and hors d’oeuvres will be available.

Tickets are $50 per couple and may be purchased from the Oxford County Fair Association members, at L.F. Pike & Son or by calling 743-6561 or 743-9594. There will also be a Shamrock Sweepstakes that offers a prize for everyone who enters. Tickets are $50 and sales are limited to 100. The grand prize will be $2,000.

Proceeds from both events will benefit the Oxford County Fair.