By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

Goffstown News/Rod Hansen It’s the passing of the shamrock as Michael French ties the green bow on Bruce Normand, this year’s Grand Leprechaun, at the Goffstown Main Street St. Patrick’s Day Dance.

It was the Goffstown Main Street Program’s first fundraiser of the year, and it was a roaring, fun and wild success.

With 167 tickets sold at $20 per person or $190 for a table of 10, and dozens of silent auction items lining the walls of the St. Lawrence Church Hall, the St. Patrick’s Day Dance was both a successful fundraiser and a rollicking party.

“Already, I can tell this is going to be one of the best St. Patrick’s dances we’ve ever had,” said Goffstown Main Street Program President Jim Beauchemin as revelers streamed in shortly after the dance’s 7 p.m. opening on Saturday, March 18.

“It was important that our first event of the year be a success. And it is,” Beauchemin said.

The Goffstown Main Street Program’s purpose of revitalization and community development have long been a source of pride for the community. However, the program hit a snag last October when a major fundraising event, the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off and Regatta, was canceled due to torrential rains the weekend the outdoor event was scheduled.

The program experienced a budget crunch in the following months, eventually cutting the position of former executive director Cathy Ewing.

But the Main Street Program was poised for a comeback, and many who attended the St. Patrick’s Day Dance said the event marked a return to form.

Even the St. Patrick’s Day Dance itself showed an improvement over previous years, according to program treasurer Judy Des Meules.

“We had lower numbers the past couple of years, mostly because of the weather,” Des Meules said. “Once we decided we needed to step up, people really put in a great effort.”

Efforts to promote the St. Patrick’s Day Dance included strategic planning and focus meetings, as well as a pledge drive in which the program sent out about 400 letters to businesses and homeowners, and saw responses returning at the rate of about three to four a day, Beauchemin said.

The silent auction and the music proved the main attractions at this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Dance. Items up for bid included gift certificates to local businesses, a Spotbot cleaner, Red Sox tickets, a “Lord of the Rings” trilogy DVD set, a portable DVD player, a Shiatsu massaging cushion, a Wolfgang Puck reversible electric grill, Powerball tickets, a 3D desk manager, and a Beauchemin’s own “How to Grow Giant Pumpkins” DVD.

Altogether, there were 65 items up for bid at the silent auction, said former program director Robbie Grady.

“Donors were really generous for the silent auction, and we have a lot of regulars who make the dance a tradition,” said Grady, who spent more than four years with the Goffstown Main Street Program and is now co-executive director of the Laconia Main Street Program.

While the silent auction helped the event to succeed, the people came to dance. And dance they did, setting the floor into a frenzy as classics such as the B-52’s “Love Shack” and innumerable disco hits from the ’70s and ’80s urging the crowd to “get down.” The crowd happily complied, with many party goers responding to the music with robust, athletic energy.

The event saw its pivotal moment with the traditional crowning of the Grand Leprechaun.

This year, that honor went to promotions team chairman Bruce Normand.

The St. Patrick’s Day Dance, while successful in the present day, is one rooted strongly in tradition. The idea of having a St. Patrick’s Day Dance began on New Year’s Eve 1960, when a group of Irish friends decided to have a St. Patrick’s Day party, said Hank Boyle, a member of the Goffstown Gaelic Society.

The event enjoyed success through the years, with some newspaper accounts even reporting fictional green smoke coming out of local chimneys at the naming of a new Grand Leprechaun.

The St. Patrick’s Day Dance discontinued in 1985, but returned when the Main Street Program revived the tradition five years ago.

“It’s always been a lot of fun,” Boyle said of the dance, “and it’s great to see it back.”

For more information about the Goffstown Main Street Program, visit www.goffstownmainst.org.