The Teen Canteen Committee celebrates the Hopkinton High School class of 1961 in this advertisement from the school yearbook.

The Teen Canteen was a series of dances for high school-aged youth held Saturday nights from 7:30-10 each September through June. The dances were held in the basement — Eldridge Hall — of the Congregational Church (now the Korean Presbyterian Church) on Main Street.

The dance was started in 1954 by some teens who were members of the Pilgrim Fellowship, an organization that met Sunday nights in the church. The group that organized the dances was known as the Teen Canteen Committee. Two of the founders were John Mark Thomas and Richard Quintal. The dance basically was a record hop. The first disc jockey was Dick Quintal, followed by Bruce “Maxie” Royal, then Bill “Chico” Larocque, and later by Ed Thompson, Billy Dockstader and Dickie Dunbar.

There always were at least two older couples serving as chaperones.

Committee members took turns selling tickets (50 cents each). We also sold Cokes, chips, candy and more from the kitchen. And of course there was a cleanup committee to clean the hall after the dance.

A couple of nights a year we had Eighth Graders Night, when the younger students were invited. Also a couple of nights a year we had a disc jockey from one of the local radio stations spin records.

I was involved during my high school years, 1955-59. My favorite memory was the time we had a local recording group, the Jamies. Their hit was “Summertime, Summertime” (… sum-, sum-, summertime …). They were slated to perform for an hour, 9-10, on a February night. However, it snowed that night. They had another appearance earlier, and we found out that they got stuck there. They felt terrible, and they made it up to us. They came for a whole dance a couple of weeks later — for nothing — performed their songs, then spent the rest of the evening mingling with us. I even got to dance with the two girls from the group.

So, where to go after the dance? The younger kids would go to Peewee’s Restaurant, which was across from where CVS is now, and have burgers and fries. The older kids — those with driver’s licenses and cars — would “graduate” to Carbone’s Restaurant for pizza.

It was a great time to grow up in Hopkinton, with a dance to go to every Saturday night.

I came full circle when I chaperoned the dance several times in 1964 and ’65.

Teen Canteen faded into the past with the last dance in 1966.