Spring, and the month of May in Greenwood means, buttercup flowers, lilac scents, robins and swallows, Boundary Creek open for fishing, marble playing on dry hardened ground, and the maypole dance … May what? May is also the time for the annual school maypole dance, which I dreaded. For this spring tradition, boys and girls partnered, skip around a tall white pole while holding a crepe paper ribbon, the other ribbon end is attached to the top of the pole. This dance is accompanied by music blared over a loudspeaker. The amplified static noise as the needle skates over the vinyl record is the cue for the start of the dance. The skipping pairs, alternating and weaving in and out with other skipping pairs would create a clever pattern at the top of the pole, the skippers would then stop and skip in reverse to undo the weave. This would go back and forth several times until at some predictable moment, a couple’s crepe paper breaks to disrupt the pole pattern. There were other miscues, as dancers didn’t always skip in unison, creating uneven spacing, or dancers would even collide, and the miscues would be evident in the ribbon pattern. Some skipping dancers are now holding a piece of torn crepe, and the still attached pole end now limp or being blown around in the breeze. These miscues would trigger snickering or loud laughter by the audience. The cute traditional dance now becomes an unintended comedic act and for the poor embarrassed dancers, they can’t wait for the finish and dread the talk of the town beyond the event, to subside…until next May.