RUMFORD – Mardi Gras will start early this year at the Rumford Eagles Hall.

In lieu of a Valentine’s Day dance, auxiliary member Kathy Boothby said the Rumford Eagles Auxiliary will host a Mardi Gras party from 8 p.m. to midnight Friday, Feb. 8. Although Mardi Gras does not begin until Feb. 12, Boothby said she decided to hold it a week early to avoid the party falling on a week day.

“Holding it on Friday allows more people will be able to show up, as opposed to a day when people work,” she explained.

Boothby said this is the first year that the Rumford Eagles Hall will be doing a Mardi Gras party.

“Normally, we do the Valentine’s Day dance, but that seems to be more geared toward couples,” Boothby said. “This way, we’re not forgetting about the single people. We all sat and talked about it and agreed it would be a fun event. In the past, on Mardi Gras, we used to pass beads around and we had a great time.”

Tickets cost $5 and all proceeds from the dance will be donated to the Alzheimer’s unit of the Rumford Community Home. Music will be performed by the band Backlash, who Boothby said “has played at the Eagles Hall for a long time.”  She said the auxiliary is hoping to find “New Orleans jazz music” to play whenever Backlash is not performing.

“We’re looking to create a real Mardi Gras atmosphere,” Boothby said. “We’ll also be doing the King Cake ceremony, which is where you hide a tiny baby doll inside of a cake and whoever finds it is supposed to have good luck for the rest of the year. Instead of a cake, we’re baking cupcakes and hiding the baby doll inside one of them.”

The auxiliary is attempting to invite a fortune teller and a tarot card reader to the dance, according to Boothby, but they have not been able to reach them as of Tuesday morning.

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