STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Creaky bones and sore hips went out the window Tuesday night as 150 young at heart twisted to Chubby Checker and twirled their poodle skirts to the chalypso as a jukebox blared out “Yakety Yak.”

“I was afraid no one would dance, but look at them!” said Louise Noyes.

Indeed, dancers took to the floor of The Argyros, which had been turned into a gymnasium for the Senior Connection’s inaugural At the Hop fundraiser, as soon as they began arriving.

Lisa Jatho and Ashlee Hamilton served up chocolate and strawberry milkshakes in small pop bottles, while Connie Hoffman dressed as a cigarette lady peddled kebobs around the dance floor adding to the hamburgers and other foods partygoers stuffed in cardboard convertibles.

“I love it. I love the music. I love everything about it,” said Kelli Young.

Sandra Flattery managed to wrangle some pigtails out of her normally bobbed hair, while donning the wacky rimmed glasses of the 1950s. Her husband John wore a black Elvis-style wig. Pink Ladies from the movie “Grease” roamed the room, hitting up guys in rolled up jeans, leather jackets and white T-shirts for dances.

And no one was a stranger as guests wore big cardboard records with their names around their necks.

“I’ve had these saddle shoes for 20 years waiting for this—and it’s so much fun,” said Susie Stuhr.

Then Elvis appeared on the scene, sending the ladies into a swoon and the men howling.

“It’s a long drive from Memphis to here,” he said, evidencing his trademark snarl. He launched into “Return to Sender. “That seals my return to Ketchum—a very rough neighborhood.”

Elvis danced with the ladies and climbed up on a chair sending a woman reaching for him. And he singled out Flattery as Pipi Longstocking.

“Don’t go!” she yelled.

Then he brought several men up on stage for “Jailhouse Rock” —all egged on by the audience.

“This man is a founding member of the Memphis Mafia,” he pointed to Paul Preston, a former linebacker with the Denver Broncos.

“Now, everything I do with my hips and my pelvis, boys, you must duplicate.”

The men not only gyrated the best they could but Elvis gave each the mic to sing along, one ending the song on a low, low note.

“I’m wondering if the Argyros offers an anger management class,” Elvis chuckled as one man belted out his line in a yell.

“I love Elvis,” said Susie Bryant. Such a great voice and great to look at, too.”

Jovita Pina, executive director of The Senior Connection, said that she and her team had sought to provide an experience with the sock hop that showed what the Senior Connection provides for the fast-growing senior segment of the Wood River Valley.

In fact, the Senior Connection will offer a dance class on Sept. 30. It also offers line dancing, bridge, bingo, watercolor classes, a book club, diner’s club, wildflower walks and shopping trips to Twin Falls.

Tricia Dunne recounted how the Senior Connection helped her settle into the community, giving her the assistance she needed to get established, given her retina pigmentosa.

“They helped me feel like I’m a part of the community,” she said.

Dunne said she availed herself of a free exam at The Connection’s Vision and Hearing Clinic where she learned she needed to have her cataracts removed--a process that gave her a little more vision. The Senior Connection provided her with Meals on Wheels after she had back surgery so she didn’t have to worry about fixing meals.

The Senior Connection van picks her up twice a week to take her to The Connection’s Fit and Fall class, and a home care aide visits her twice a month to make sure her apartment is in good shape.

“I put a lot of trust in my caregiver and have a good relationship with her,” she said.

R.L. Rowsey followed Dunne up with a paddle up, noting that $2,500 will provide for a year of memory care and $500 pays for five vision exams.

“We’re the best community,” he said. “Every once in a while, you see an article talking about how expensive it is to live here, and that’s true. What they don’t talk about is how big the hearts are in this community.”

Numerous people said they hadn’t had as much fun in a long time as they did at the sock hop.

“But back in the day we could go all night,” said Gary Morgan.

“I had so much fun but I’m dizzy from wearing these fake glasses!” added Nadine McWilliams.

DID YOU KNOW?

This year the Senior Connection will provide:

26,000 meals

6,000 hours of caregiving

3,000 hours of transportation

250 fitness classes

It costs:

$25,000 for two months of raw food for meals

$10,000 for a month of Meals on Wheels

$5,000 for a month of transportation

$2,500 for a year of memory care

$1,000 for to provide for adventure

$500 for five vision exams

$250 for a week of fitness classes

$100 for an hour of mental health counseling