By Heidy Ornelas

On Saturday Feb. 1, the Sadie Hawkins Dance at Wheat Ridge High School was accomplished. The theme was called “Viva Las Wheat Ridge,” in reference to a night in Las Vegas.

The night was not a very pleasant one with the cold, snowy weather outside, but a decent amount of people showed up to still have a great time. This time, the entrance doors weren’t mainly the ones by the small gym like at homecoming; instead the staff was taking tickets at the doors by the big gym. As students came in they were able to leave theirs jacket and belongings in the big gym as long as they had a reserved spot with a letter and number.

Walking towards the small gym there were nice dim lights and decorations; through that hall there were tables set up so one could sit and take a break from dancing. The dance floor took place in the small gym. At first, nearly no one danced because the lights were on. Dan, one of the security guards who were supervising, said that the reason the lights were on was because the small gym has automatic emergency lights that stay dim. As people realized that the lights weren’t going to go off, more people joined the dance floor. The dance continued until 10 that night, but as the dance was done everyone was trying to rush into their cars because of the freezing cold weather.

The history of the Sadie Hawkins Dance brings us to the first event that was held Nov. 9, 1938 and was all based on a comic strip called “Li’l Abner.” In the famous comic later turned musical, there was a designed day in November when unmarried women could chase bachelors around the town in hopes of catching them for marriage.

 According to the story, Sadie Hawkins was, “the homeliest gal in all them hills,” meaning the most unattractive girl in town, but this day was her favorite and town bachelor’s most feared day of the year. Sadie’s was born as this comic gained popularity. High schools throughout the U.S. began throwing annual Sadie Hawkins dances.

Now Sadie’s is a semi-formal dance, in which girls ask the guys, contrary to the traditional custom of guys asking girls to a school dance as their date, which also has girls simply waiting to be asked.