Dawn: the Guinguette du Passage in Romilly-sur-Seine celebrates its 100th anniversary with two final afternoons of celebrations

In the Romillon landscape, the Guinguette du Passage is an institution. This place of dance and conviviality which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year was taken over 33 years ago by Hervé Morin and his wife Martine. Between May 1st and the end of September, Sunday afternoons begin with musette for the elders, before, a few hours later, the generations meet to dance to music from the 1980s to the present day. The last two dance afternoons of the centenary season will take place on September 22nd and 29th, 2024. “It’s always dance music, people come to dance. Some go to the gym to do sports, here they come to dance, to synchronize the steps with the mind”, smiles Martine Morin.

But this place is above all a family story, that of the Morins, which began at the beginning of the last century. Hervé’s great-grandfather, Gaston Morin, station master in Romilly-sur-Seine (Aube), had blood circulation problems, and his doctor advised him to walk. As he lived above the station, he invested in a small piece of country house 2 km away, just after the Passage de la commune bridge. He bought the rest of the farmhouse shortly after, then the adjoining café. In 1924, one of his four sons, Georges, decided to create a guinguette on this land.

Little by little, the place became known and success was there. Very special relationships were formed over time between Gaston and the SNCF social center. The site also hosted holiday camps. “In 1925, when the first young people arrived at the leisure center, it was something very new and very social, because the first paid holidays had not yet arrived. They were pioneers in this area,” says Martine Morin.

Under the Eiffel-style arbor

During the interwar period, the paid holidays of 1936 allowed the people of Aube to come and enjoy the banks of the Vieille Seine and dance to lively tunes. During the Second World War, the guinguette activity was put on hold, as balls were banned in France. Geneviève, daughter of Georges Morin, nevertheless decided to take over the café in 1942. Once the war was over, with her brother Jacques, they reopened the doors of the Guinguette every Sunday. Once again, success was not long in coming, and the guinguette became the intergenerational meeting place where people came to dance with pleasure.

A tradition that should continue in the years to come with the son of the couple of managers, who lives on the premises. And, with 100 years of success under its belt, the Guinguette du Passage is not ready to abandon the dancers who tread its floor.