Winter Sock Hop

The Plymouth Arts Center invites you to join us for a 50’s Sock Hop, Sunday, January 29, 2023 from 1 to 4pm. Sheboygan area’s premier 50’s and 60’s tribute band, II Cool, featuring musicians, John, Joe, and Gerry, will provide live music for this fun, family event. Enjoy various contests, a Soda Shop menu, and a cash bar. Costumes are encouraged; however, they are optional! Tickets for adults are: $10 in advance, $13 at the door. – CHILDREN 12 AND UNDER ARE FREE. Call: 920-892-8409; Email: info@plymoutharts.org , Website: www.plymoutharts.org, Mastercard & Visa accepted.

Origin of the SOCK HOP: Sock hops were held as early as 1944 by the American Junior Red Cross to raise funds during World War II. They then became a fad among American teenagers in 1948. Sock hops were commonly held at high schools and other educational institutions, often in the school gymnasium or cafeteria. The term came about because dancers were required to remove their hard-soled shoes to protect the varnished floor of the gymnasium. The music at a sock hop was usually played from vinyl records, sometimes presented by a disc jockey. Occasionally there were also live bands. In later years, “hops” became strongly associated with the 1950s and early rock and roll.   “At the Hop”, a song by Danny & the Juniors that debuted in 1957, names many popular and novelty dances and otherwise documented what occurred at a hop.

Like “American Idol” today, “American Bandstand” was wildly popular among TV viewers in the 1950s, ’60s and beyond. The show went nationwide in August 1957, and within 6 months, it was broadcast on more than 100 stations with 20 million people regularly tuning in. “American Bandstand” helped increase adult acceptance of rock-and-roll music – seeing the chaperoned dancing teens on daytime TV helped diminish the stigma attached to sock hops in many parents’ minds. Dick Clark, the show’s host, even put in live appearances at additional sock hops, sometimes attending more than two dozen a week.