“I used to go to the dance practically every Saturday night,” Shirley Wright said. “It made you happy.”

Wright grew up in Brunswick, where she saw Roy Clark and Buck Owens perform “hillbilly music” at the Brunswick Volunteer Fire Company fire hall. No Patsy Cline, however.

Wright and other adults at Daybreak Adult Day Services can relive a slice of their teenage years at the annual Senior Senior Prom at Daybreak, now in its ninth year, when the Great Room of the facility is temporarily transformed into a dance hall each February with balloons and decorations.

Daybreak, located on Rocky Springs Road in Frederick, operates as a nonprofit and offers adult day care services for people in the area.

SLAB (Student Learning Advisory Board) volunteers from area high schools come to the event dressed in their own prom outfits and dance the hour away with Daybreak members and staff. They also help decorate and bring corsages for participants.

“All the children came, and I think they really enjoyed it,” Wright said.

“I enjoyed it, too,” Nancy Payne chimed in. She went to the dance in a pink dress and boots last year and said she plans to get dressed up for the occasion again this time around.

“Everyone was in pretty, frilly dresses and gowns,” Wright said.

Daybreak member Bill Peyton comes from a different background: soul music. He said he’s “learned to adjust ... but the music at home is soul.”

Peyton suffered a stroke 10 years ago, but still manages to “get out on the floor,” he said, wiggling his cane. “Shucks,” he added, laughing. “Before I had my stroke, I was the life of the party.”

He comes to the Senior Senior Prom dressed in a tux.

Though Wright, now using a walker, admitted she joins in only during slow songs, she enjoys the overall event.

“They danced, really, for the whole hour,” said Jamie Cable, activity coordinator at Daybreak. “Even when they can’t dance, they just love to watch it.”

Leslie Schultz, director of operations and marketing at the facility, said this year staff and high school volunteers will dance the Electric Slide and Macarena midway through the event, to give the older folks a short break.

Yes, staff members dress up and dance, too.

The past two years, a DJ, through Amplified Entertainment Services, has donated his time to the event, playing songs from the ‘50s and ‘60s, with a few big band songs thrown in the mix.

Participants also eat special meals that day and fun drinks: nonalcoholic pina coladas and margaritas, or sparkling juices.

“We really feel it’s a celebration,” Schultz said.

New last year, a photo booth was set up with an archway of red roses and lights, where people could pose and get their picture taken, individually, and then take home the shots as keepsakes.

“I think it’s a valuable relationship we have with them (SLAB),” Schultz said. “They dance and wear their own prom clothes and make these people feel really special.”

“They have this little dance to help us old folks feel good,” Peyton said.

 — — —

For information on Daybreak Adult Day Services or the Senior Senior Prom, call 301-696-0808, e-mail daybreakdirector@comcast.net, or go to www.daybreakadultdayservices.org.