A Dancing Town

An early view of the first days on the entertainment scene of Maple Ridge comes from the biographical sketch of Hector Ross McLean Ferguson on the occasion of his death in 1931. Ferguson was a pioneer settler, arriving in 1878 after taking the advice below:

"Soon after [Hector Ferguson] landed [in Victoria] he went to have his photograph taken to send home to his parents, and while this was being done he asked the photographer for information about the mainland and was told that his place of settlement depended a great deal upon what his inclinations were. If he were religiously inclined, he should go to Chilliwack, and if he wished to mingle in municipal politics, Langley offered the best opportunities, and, if he was fond of dancing, Maple Ridge should be his destination." [Weekly Gazette, Nov 19, 1931.]

Later in his life he observed:

"Fifteen or twenty years struggle in the woods simply takes all the ambition out of a man or woman. But while money was scarce and luxuries few in pioneer times, life was full of bright spots and Maple Ridge long held a reputation for its merry dances — not the mawkish, waddling things called dances today, but the regular old hoe-down and reels, after which a man seating his partner, would walk over to the door and open up his vest in order to dry his shirt, which would be dripping with perspiration." [ibid]

Other pioneers also made note of the popularity of local dances. This description comes to us from Mrs. J. C. MacFarlane, daughter of John McIver whose farm gave its name to "Maple Ridge":

"There being no bridge or progressive whist parties in those days, the chief amusement was dancing where families were grown up. . . . There were several large families with five to ten members in each and plenty of girls. The dances were not Cinderella Dances - over at midnight - but continued until five or six in the morning, with a "caller off" for the square dances.

The orchestra was comprised of one fiddler, not even King Cole's complement of fiddlers three. Sometimes an accordion or a Jew's harp was played. Several fiddlers would be present, but only one played at a time as there would be neither harmony nor unison if they played together."

As the community grew through the 1910's and into the 1920's, several small community halls were built. Dances continued to be both the primary reason for the halls' existence and their main source of revenue. In 1916, when the good women of the Ladies Club of Whonnock were fundraising for that community's first hall, they would hike out to the logging camps of the region and sign up the loggers for a "subscription" to a year's worth of dances. We don't know that they promised dancing partners, but they did raise enough to build the hall.

In Webster's Corners, the Sampo Hall rocked every Saturday night for many years, often with some other form of entertainment first but always with a dance afterward. The Fossett Hall in Hammond and the Albion Hall were also popular venues.

From the earliest Gazette newspapers, the banner above the masthead was always used to advertise the next dancing extravaganza to take place at the Aggie Hall. From its opening in 1909, the Aggie Hall was the largest hall in town and so all the big orchestras — local or from far-away New Westminster — played there. Every possible community event or celebration, from Valentines to Easter to May Day to the Fair and so on, had its associated dance that ran into the wee hours of the morning.

When the Aggie Hall was demolished in 1967 to make way for the Cam Neely Arena complex, it was discovered that the floor had been reduced from its original 1 ½" thickness to less than ¾" through the energy of all those dancing feet.

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