The 'Toe Social' of Tacoma
A mischievous fundraising dance where bachelors bid on mystery partners based solely on a glimpse of their feet.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Whoever heard of a toe social? The Sheridan Post Woman’s Relief Corps attempted one last evening in their hall in the Sprague block. All who want to go bring their wives, daughters or best girls and afterwards try to find them by the size of their feet. After everyone arrived, the ladies were invited to retire behind a curtain. Shortly afterwards, forty-eight pairs of feet appeared from under the curtain. A man acting as auctioneer numbered each pair of shoes and sold them to the highest bidder for the evening. The ladies had put up a joke on the men, for a delicate one-and-a-half patent leather slipper that brought $10 turned out to contain an ancient grandmother, and a pair of brogans that the auctioneer had to buy in himself for two bits turned out to be a fairy. When the curtain was raised there was much amusement and some embarrassment. While it jarred the nerves of some younger men to see their sweethearts bought for two bits while they paid $7 for a grandmother, the evening was voted a great success.
“The ladies had put up a joke on the men, for a delicately constructed one and a half patent leather slippers that brought $10 turned out to contain some ancient grandmother.”
Long before digital apps or modern matchmaking, this was the era's version of a 'blind date.' While it was framed as a wholesome fundraiser, it highlights the social rigidity and gendered power dynamics of the 1890s that today’s community organizers have thankfully moved past.
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