ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Shelly Luis and Norman Lavoie dance to the music of Tony Hester at the Valentine’s Day celebration held at PondView at Briarcliff Lodge on Friday. Behind them is the tree decorated for Valentine’s Day.
BY BRIDGET TURCOTTE
LYNN — Seniors at PondView at Briarcliff Lodge celebrated Valentine’s Day with a Sweetheart Sock Hop party Friday afternoon.
During the event, attendees enjoyed live entertainment by Tony Hester, who played the guitar and sang love songs, while guests moved around on the dance floor.
“Tony comes once a month,” said Alesha Casella, activities assistant at PondView. “He’s really sweet. Before he leaves, he shakes each individual’s hand. They really enjoy him.”
A special dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parmesan and salad was served.
“We asked everyone to wear red and pink and decorated the room,” Casella said.
“We’re open Saturdays but not as many people come on Saturday,” she said.
Guests exchanged valentines and Valentine’s Day gifts such as flowers, candy and teddy bears. Large hand-made cloth roses made by clients decorated a tree, which stays up year-round at the facility
In preparation for the party, clients also decorated paper bags with hearts, rhinestones, stickers and drawings. The bags were filled with candies and given out as gift bags to party guests.
PondView’s baking group prepared chocolate covered strawberries Thursday. Each party guest received two of the treats, Casella said.
“We have a lot of little groups,” she said. “We have a baking group, a veterans group, a card group, a ladies group.”
“It’s a great program,” said Howard Peabody of Lynn. “I like it, it’s good.”
Peabody said he attends the facility four times a week, but looks forward to the special events.
“I like the music and I like it here,” Peabody said.
“The party is lovely,” said Claire Landry of Lynn. Landry attended the party as a guest of her husband, who attends the program regularly. The couple spent a lot of time enjoying the music and tearing up the dance floor.
“The kids up here do a great job,” Landry said. “They try to keep these guys happy.”
“It’s good. I like that they are giving out candy,” said Lee Thurell of Saugus.
“It’s fun. I’m here four days a week,” said June Lowe of Lynn. “(Having these parties) helps us all get together, socialize and have fun.”
“Even if they don’t get up to dance, for the most part, everyone has a lot of fun,” Casella said. “It’s a good sense of community for them all.”
PondView at Briarcliff Lodge is located at 112 Kernwood Drive.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.