Faculty members and parents of North Harford alumni may remember a time when the Sadie Hawkins Dance was a beloved tradition here at the Hawks’ Nest. Over the years, the dance lost popularity and fell into obscurity. Now, for the past few years, SGA has been trying to bring it back.
Different circumstances have prevented the dance from getting off the ground in past years. “[One] of the challenges that went into planning the dance was the risk that no one was going to come,” says senior Lilly Heath, SGA president. Lack of interest was the reason the 2024 winter dance got canceled. “Some people just don’t want to come to the dances, which is a struggle,” Heath adds.
While it wasn’t a Sadie Hawkins-style dance, 2025 was the first year since the pandemic that the winter dance has happened. “I am glad to be bringing it back this year,” says Heath. “Students can expect this dance to become a new annual tradition.” Planning for this dance has been in the works since the beginning of the year. “We started planning for this dance directly after the wrap-up of Homecoming. So, I guess that has been about three months,” Heath said.
The winter dance was advertised as HOCO 2.0, but outside guests weren’t allowed at the dance. “In the future, I would love to be able to incorporate outside guests, as I think it will help us be able to get ticket sales up,” adds Heath.
A big change that separates this dance from Homecoming was the location. The winter dance was held in the gym instead of the cafeteria, “I am not 100 percent sure what led to this change. I think that [the] administration wanted to try something new,” said the SGA president.
While the dance was allowed to happen, snow had a significant impact on the success of the night. “The snow days definitely impacted ticket sales, as we were unable to spread the word about the dance on the announcements,” Heath admits. This struggle was slightly alleviated by the administrators who “agreed to reopen the ticket sales for us on Thursday,” says Heath, since ticket sales originally “closed on Monday night, which was a snow day.”
On the night of the dance, the Baltimore Ravens were playing a game in the NFL divisionals. Since a lot of people wanted to watch the game, administrators allowed for the SGA to “play the Ravens game in the gym,” says Heath, allowing the dancers to watch the game throughout the evening.
“I liked that there was a quiet area with games if you didn’t want to be in the main dance room for a little,” said senior Mack Carter, who was in attendance.
Chick-fil-A catered the dance, offering cookies and sandwiches, reminiscent of homecoming. One thing that attendees wished was on the menu was a “more snack-y option,” says Carter, “because I don’t really like chicken sandwiches.”
