On Saturday nights at the Stockdale fire hall in Washington County, young Romeos only had eyes for perky girls clad in form-fitting dresses or sweaters and skirts and bouffant hair. It was, after all, the age of Aqua Net hair spray. Fifty cents bought admission to the week's biggest social event, which often featured live performances by popular recording stars and, if you were lucky, a few smooches with your sweetie.

This Saturday, about 1,000 people will pay $10 apiece to relive those magical nights as three different disc jockeys play music by the Five Satins, the Chiffons, the Shirelles, the Del Vikings and the Marcels, among many popular oldies.

The special dance marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of these dances, which began on Dec. 21, 1957. The event lost its appeal in the late 1960s but was revived in the mid-1980s on a sporadic basis.

"It's going to be like a big class reunion," said Al Marcy, chief of the Stockdale Volunteer Fire Department. "There's going to be more people in this fire hall than live in this town." The Washington County community of Stockdale covers 1.1 square miles and has 660 residents.

The event, Mr. Marcy said, is a sellout, with a waiting list of 400. Proceeds benefit Stockdale's fire truck fund.

Among the ticket holders is Michael McNulty, a 1959 Bentleyville High School graduate who twisted and shouted regularly at Stockdale.

"It was such a neat dance. They had really good music. There were so many people there -- lots of girls from Charleroi and Monessen. Stockdale, right from the beginning, was a kind of a safe haven in a sense. It was different than guys driving

over to Monessen. There was a lot of territoriality that went on. A lot of the women from around the valley could go there with their girlfriends," Mr. McNulty said.

High turnout was not guaranteed when Stockdale's volunteer firefighters gambled and staged the first fund-raising dance. In that harmonious era, Mon Valley teenagers had their pick of places, including the Jumpin' Jive Bee Hive and the Cougar Canteen in Charleroi, the Italian Hall in Monessen, the Blue Fox and Italian Citizens Club in Monongahela, and the Twin Coaches in Rostraver.

But 300 people attended that first dance, and the event grew. Performers told John Barbero, who spun records at the fire hall during the 1960s, that Stockdale drew the largest crowds, with as many as 1,000 teenagers swaying, line dancing or hand jiving on the hardwood dance floor. Students from nine high schools attended the weekly shindig, Mr. Barbero said.

"You didn't have to worry much about fights. The music was calmer, and I think the kids were, too," Mr. Barbero said.

Jim Dudas, who will supply the music and equipment for Saturday's dance, hosts a show called "Mon Valley Memories" on Sunday afternoons on WJPA (95.3 FM and 1450 AM).

At Stockdale dances, Mr. Dudas said, "Some nights, you would just have groups from the valley, like the Mystics, the Rogues, the Volcanics."

Plenty of locals are attending but lots of out-of-towners are coming, too, including Mr. McNulty and his wife, Darlene, who will travel from Iowa.

"Guys always hung around the outside of the dance floor, especially on fast dances. We specialized in slow dances -- one step forward and two steps back. It was safer, plus you got to hold the girls closer," said Mr. McNulty, a retired University of Iowa professor of geography and earth sciences.

A college buddy introduced Mr. McNulty to his future wife because he was too shy to approach the young lady with the long hair and shapely figure, even though they were classmates at California University of Pennsylvania. In their first conversation, Mr. McNulty mentioned the Stockdale dance and they agreed to meet there.

By the time Darlene and her girlfriends showed up, Mr. McNulty said, "I was already off dancing with somebody else, a girl from Monessen," and had committed to driving her home.

But he managed to dance and talk with Darlene, too.

"In that sense, it was our first date. Stockdale was what brought us together."

Even so, his wife still teases him about "the girl with the curl" from Monessen.

Guys often wore peg-leg denim Levis and sweaters, but Saturday night could also be a dressy affair.

"When we dressed up, I had this wonderful pair of black pants with a pink stripe down the side with a pink shirt. That was a real dress-up outfit, with the shirt collar up and turned down on the ends," Mr. McNulty said.

This weekend, music, memories and old friends will make Stockdale the place to gather.

"Most of my memories are more of being there with my buddies, meeting up with people and dancing. That was an every-week occurrence," Mr. McNulty said. "We were down there trolling and looking for attractive girls around the valley."