The Sheenboro Parish Hall opened its doors on Sunday to welcome square dancers new and old for an afternoon of two-stepping and do-si-doing to tunes provided by musicians Sherryl Fitzpatrick, Terri-Lynn Mahusky, Kerry Vaillancourt and Gail Gavan.

The event was the latest in a series of fundraisers the hall has hosted to finance much needed building maintenance.

According to Jeanie Gleason, one of the event’s organizers, they’ve all seen a great turnout, with many people traveling from beyond Pontiac’s borders to partake.

“It’s kind of a cultural event for our community,” Gleason said. “You see a lot of people who are so excited.”

One of those people was Al Coulas from Mississauga, who spends some of the year in the Pontiac, and called all the dances Sunday afternoon.

“There’s nothing like this in the city,” Coulas said. “We come up here for the dance community.”

He’s called at the Sheenboro dances three times and now manages a Google calendar with all the dances in the region. He said while he loves dancing, calling is a new and exciting thing.

“Anybody that’s a musician understands,” Coulas said. “The enjoyment that comes from playing, calling is exactly the same. The music’s invigorating and you just want to jump in there and make it happen.”

The hall dances, which restarted after a long hiatus in September, have helped raise money for repairs to the building, which was rebuilt in 1918 following a fire that destroyed the original building constructed around 1870.

“This is a very old hall and it’s in need of some repairs,” Gleason said. “It needs a new paint job and it would be forty to fifty thousand dollars.”

But the bigger goal with these dances, Gleason said, is to create a lively community space for local seniors.

And this it has accomplished.