North Carolina’s Bodacious Belles Thrive on Friendship and Fancy Footwork

U.S.|Their Weapons Against the Effects of Aging: Friendship, and Some Fancy Footwork https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/24/us/north-carolina-bodacious-belles-women-friendship.html You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. Image The Bodacious Belles, a women’s group in Beaufort, N.C., shows the difference a network of support […]

T Kauer T Kauer
Feb 24, 2024 - 19:15
North Carolina’s Bodacious Belles Thrive on Friendship and Fancy Footwork

North Carolina’s Bodacious Belles Thrive on Friendship and Fancy Footwork thumbnail

U.S.|Their Weapons Against the Effects of Aging: Friendship, and Some Fancy Footwork

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/24/us/north-carolina-bodacious-belles-women-friendship.html

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

Image Map of the United States. A red pin marks Beaufort, North Carolina.

The Bodacious Belles, a women’s group in Beaufort, N.C., shows the difference a network of support can make in an aging America.

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The Bodacious Belles participating in the annual Fourth of July Parade in Beaufort, N.C.

WHY WE’RE HERE

We’re exploring how America defines itself one place at a time. In Beaufort, N.C., a group of women offers a window into what contemporary aging can be in a nation that is rapidly getting older.

By Colbi Edmonds

Photographs by Madeline Gray

Reporting from Beaufort, N.C.

Martha Barnes’s home was buzzing. It was a Saturday in little Beaufort, N.C., time to get ready for the town’s Mardi Gras parade, and women were zigzagging around the house, applying makeup, laughing and calling out repeatedly for the Fireball Cinnamon Whisky sitting on the kitchen counter.

“If you want to say something,” one woman hollered above the din, “you better scream it!”

Ms. Barnes’s home is not a sorority house — she is 86 years old. But, for the day, it was something of the sort: the meeting spot for the Bodacious Belles — the town’s locally famous group of rambunctious retirees — eager to win best in show for the parade, again.

“We’re not very contained,” said Ms. Barnes, who is the Queen Mother of the group.

The Belles are a chapter of The Sweet Potato Queens — an international network of more than 6,500 women’s groups that aim for a similar balance of amusement and mutual support.

Throughout the year, the Belles perform in Beaufort’s holiday parades and organize activities among themselves, like going to the movies, playing dominoes and singing karaoke. But they have known one another for years, forming more than meaningful friendships.

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Throughout the year, the Belles perform in Beaufort’s holiday parades and organize activities among themselves.

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Studies have shown that participating in community activities and forming lasting ties in groups like the Belles is beneficial for older adults’ mental health.

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