On March 26, the Chelsea High School SGA will host the Sadie Hawkins Dance. Sadie Hawkins is a chance for the girls to ask the boys to a dance, but where exactly did Sadie Hawkins Dance come from? Is Sadie Hawkins a real person?

According to ‘Today I Found Out’, Sadie Hawkins is a cartoon series -turned musical- created by Al Cap in the 1934. The series successfully ran for 40 years.

“She was a character in his popular cartoon Lil’ Abner, set in the hillbilly town of Dogpatch that began its wildly successful 40 year run in 1934.”

In the series Sadie is a 15 year old girl whom no one has come to court. Her father, Hekzebiah Hawkins, becomes increasingly frantic as the years pass by. Her father hatches the plan to find his daughter a husband, so that he doesn’t have to support his spinster, daughter for the rest of their lives.

The father’s plan is to round up all the eligible bachelors in the town and have a race. The men line up and the dad fires a shot signaling them to run. A few seconds later, after they’ve had a head start he fires the gun again signaling Sadie to run.

The other women in the town think this race is a wonderful idea and think that Sadie Hawkins Day should become a holiday. The law states that is the women can catch a man and drag him back across the starting line, fighting the whole way back, before the sun goes down, the man has to marry her.

The Sadie Hawkins Dance does not come into play until later in the series. The Dance takes place the evening before the big race. The women wear ‘hob-nailed boots’ (TodayIfoundout.com) to “unintentionally” stomp the toes of the men in the race. This creates a problem for the men because a bruised or broken foot hinders their ability to run from the soon-to-be-brides.

Sadie Hawkins Day was originally sometime in November whenever Capp decided to put Sadie Hawkins back into the comic strip. However, due to the popularity of the holiday, Sadie Hawkins Day became a whole day extravaganza. Sadie Hawkins Day is traditionally celebrated on the first Saturday after November 9^th.

This year Chelsea High has decided to celebrate the Holiday on Thursday, March 26. The Dance proceeds will go to the Student Government Association. The ticket prices are $5 dollars for a single ticket, and $8 for a couple.

Today, Sadie Hawkins Dances are a less formal gathering. Some couples decide to wear matching colors to the dance so every one knows they came together. Many schools put on the Sadie Hawkins dance so students have a less formal option opposed to prom or homecoming where dresses and tux are very expensive and mandatory. The dance is a worry free, relaxed atmosphere for the students to just enjoy themselves and have fun.

Although Sadie Hawkins is mainly thought of as an enjoyable, exciting time it hasn’t always been a fun experience for everyone.

According to aboutstyle.com “After an episode of Disney’s Lizzie McGuire series centered about the middle school drama of a Sadie Hawkins dance, the creators behind Li’l Abner tried – and failed – to sue Disney over their unauthorized use of ‘Sadie Hawkins.’”

But what is the future for this iconic dance, many people feel the dance is irrelevant for the present time. The idea that girls have to have permission to ask out a boy, could be sending the wrong message to young women, creating an atmosphere of imbalanced leadership in the relationship. Why should there have to be a specific holiday or dance for the woman to be allowed to ask out a man? Haven’t we overcome the obstacles in this country of equality, and why would we want to instill the opinion that a woman must have permission to ask a man to a dance? Many people believe that because of this the Sadie Hawkins Dance is outdated and will soon be retired along with many other ideals that never made it to the 2000’s.

Information gathered from TodayIfoundout.com and Aboutstyle.