For more than 30 years, the Lewiston Singles Club has been a place to find love, meet people, whirl around the dance floor.

A lot of people want to dance, but not so many want to lead.

“No one wants to be an officer,” said outgoing treasurer Norma Goddard. “They don’t want to be committed.”

So, after 36 years of bringing people together, the Lewiston Singles Club will close at the end of the year. Its president, treasurer and secretary are retiring and no one ran in the election to replace them this summer.

“I just love the club and I’m going to really, really miss it,” said outgoing president Millie Eastman.

The club was started in 1972 by four friends who enjoyed dancing and wanted to expand their little group. It quickly evolved into a nonprofit club with occasional boat rides, lobster bakes and charity fundraisers. But the Sunday dances, with their live bands and relaxed atmosphere, were most popular. At one point, the club had 200 to 250 members, with some traveling to Lewiston-Auburn from as far away as Wiscasset to waltz the evening away.

Some members sought – and found – the loves of their lives. Others were happy to make new friends or discover a good place to dance or just get out of the house for a night.

Goddard, the treasurer, joined in the late 1980s after her marriage of 30 years ended in divorce.

“I was not a bar person,” she said. “I loved to dance.”

At the club, Goddard met a group of friends and they began attending regularly.

“You could be with people without getting involved,” she said.

Eastman, the president, joined in 1978 after her first husband died. Her father, a widower, was a club member and he talked her into going.

“This sitting home and feeling bad and feeling depressed? Get out and go. That’s what you’ve got to do,” Eastman said.

She was struck by the mix of people – widowed, divorced and never-married – and how well everyone got along.

Eastman, elected president in the 1990s, met her second husband at the club and stepped down soon after the marriage, but the relationship didn’t work out and Eastman returned. A few years ago, she was elected president again.

Although membership is down from its peak, the weekly dances at the Knights of Columbus Hall still draw 80 to 100 people, some of them members and some of them friends of members. Most are 50 years old or older.

“People ask what’s happened to all the young people,” Eastman said. “Nothing’s happened to them. They’ve just all had birthdays.”

The age of members hasn’t been a problem, but the age of the club’s officers has become one. Goddard is 80 and the others are past retirement age. They’ve led the club for years and need a break.

But according to the club’s bylaws, a person must have been a member for a year and must have attended at least three board meetings in order to be eligible to fill a seat. No one else fits the criteria.

On Dec. 28, the Lewiston Singles Club will hold its last Sunday dance.

“Change comes hard the older you are and it’s going to be a big change,” Goddard said. “But we’ve voted. It’s all done.”

There are a few other singles clubs in Maine, and the Knights of Columbus Hall is talking about holding its own dances. But for some, it won’t be the same.

“They’re all my friends here,” Eastman said.