PARIS — The Swingin’ Bears Square Dance Club will host a public dance and ice cream social from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 13, at Oxford Hills Middle School.

Eleanor Herrick, vice president of the Swingin’ Bears, said the event will cost $6 for dancers and free for everyone else.

“We allow the public to come in and watch for no charge,” Herrick said. “A lot of the times, we get people who either square dance and don’t want to participate or family members of dancers, but anybody is welcome to come.”

In addition to the dance, there will be an ice cream social and treats furnished by club members.

Herrick, who has been square dancing since 1981, has been a member of the club since 2000. She first became interested in square dancing after reading an advertisement in the Sun Journal that simply stated: “Square dancing at Sherwood Heights.”

“I dragged my husband there, and at first, he wasn’t that into it,” Herrick laughed. “Men are slow to get into square dancing, but once they do, they’re the most enthusiastic about it. When we first started, he was working at the Post Office and he ended up splitting his time between work and square dancing,” she said.

Herrick said the Swingin’ Bears Square Dance Club will celebrate its 50th anniversary Aug. 23, 2014.

“I think we might be the oldest square dance club in the state right now,” she said. “If not the oldest, we’re at least one of the oldest.”

For more information, call 782-4050.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com