Dover’s biennial all-school reunion on Memorial Day weekend will be an extra special event this year for more than one reason.

Due to the pandemic, this year’s alumni gathering is the first in four years.

And, with construction underway on the new elementary school, the reunion will be the last held in the historic school gym.

“The gym will be demolished along with the rest of the elementary school as soon as students are able to move into the new school building,” Nina Collums, Dover Class of ’66 and alumni association president, said. “We don’t know exactly when that will happen, but it will certainly be gone by the next reunion in 2024.”

The reunion begins at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 29, with a meet-and-greet, followed by a meal later in the day.

Eight classes will be honored for celebrating their 25th and 50th year anniversaries on the years 2019-22, Collums said.

Ongoing construction means parking near the school is limited, so attendees are asked to park at the Dover Christian Church and ride a shuttle bus to the school.

During her time as a Dover student, Collums said the Dover gym often would be bursting at the seams, particularly when the Longhorns were hosting fierce rival teams from Arcadia and Rocky.

“After Booker T. Washington School students integrated at Dover in 1957, we had some great basketball teams,” she said. “People would come from all over to watch those games and the gym would be full to the brim, with people even sitting on the stage.”

The gym also was the location for class plays, musical performances during the Kingfisher County Fine Arts Festival and many other events, she noted.

Constructed in the 1930s with its unique domed roof, the Dover school gym was originally oriented in a north-south direction and then later changed to east-west with a stage on the west end with the construction of an addition in the 1950s.

All grades were originally housed in the same building before being divided into elementary and high school classes, Collums said.

“A lot of people may not realize that the gym and remainder of the old school will be demolished soon,” she said. “We want them to take advantage of this opportunity to visit.”