MATTAPOISETT — Yeehaw!

After a year off for covid and a postponement from July due to rain, the Mattapoisett Square Dance was back at the Town Wharf on Saturday, Aug. 14.

The town square dance is a tradition that dates back to the 1940s according to organizer Lisa Breault, who said it was good to be back after a long break from dancing.

“There are so many people who are excited,” she said. “It’s really about fun, exercise and fellowship.”

Though it was a smaller crowd than most years because of renewed covid fears, Breault said it was worth it to get people out and dancing.

“Unfortunately, I’ve had some people call and say they’re not quite ready yet,” she said. “Tonight was more about letting people come outside to dance safely.”

For one couple, Don and Marlene Davis, it was the first time they had been out to dance for one-and-a-half years, though they used to go out eight to ten times a month before the pandemic began.

“We’ve always danced,” said Marlene, adding of her first time back out, “I remembered more than I thought I would.”

Steve and Stephanie Dionne of Rhode Island, who go square dancing once or twice a week and just got back from a square dancing convention in Mississippi, said they do it mostly for the camaraderie.

“One of the nice things about square dancing is that no matter where you are in the world, it’s called in English,” said Steve, adding that he has “danced on a wine keg in Germany” and on the Hoover Dam.

For decades, the dance was organized by Paul Letourneau, who died in 2012 leaving the dance to be led by his wife Lillian and Breault.