STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. — Mardi Gras celebrations in places like New Orleans and Mobile, Ala., are well-known. But a Missouri village with French roots has its own pre-Lenten party — a traditional ball that dates back more than 250 years.

On the first Saturday of February, the people of Ste. Genevieve and their out-of-town visitors don French colonial costumes and dance at the annual King's Ball. Dancers of all ages, from little kids and teenagers to those well in their 70s, will crowd the floor on Feb. 2 to dance reels and other old-time line dances.

"Ste. Gen," as the locals call it, was settled by the French in the early 1700s, making it one of Missouri's oldest settlements. The town of 4,400 people on the Mississippi River is 64 miles south of St. Louis.

The early Catholic settlers lived by agricultural cycles and the church's religious calendar, according to a history compiled by Ste. Genevieve Herald managing editor Jean Feld Rissover. Before the solemn season of Lent, the town's colonial residents, joined by area farmers, trappers, Indians and slaves, partied the last weekend before Lent with music, dancing and food.

Ownership of the territory was alternately French, Spanish and American, "but the French traditions persisted no matter who was in charge," Rissover said.

Originally, the King's Ball was traditionally held in the home of Ste. Genevieve's oldest female resident, according to ball organizer Mickey Koetting.

Today, partiers fill the local VFW Hall, one of the few modern buildings in a place whose distinctive French colonial architecture harkens to an earlier era. Cousin Curtis and the Cash Rebates, a St. Louis string band, has had the King's Ball gig for 20 years. The band plays traditional mandolin and fiddle music, and a "caller" walks couples through each dance's steps before the music starts. Before long, the dancers are moving gracefully through the "contra dances," a hybrid of English country and French court dances dating to the 17th century in which couples dance in two facing lines.

"It's as much fun as you can have in Ste. Genevieve with your clothes on," said Koetting, 58, who's danced at every ball since 1970.

Last year, the aerobics were so vigorous and the hall was so packed that dancers stepped into the frigid, 15-degree temperature outside to cool off. A teenage girl, shivering outside the hall, asked her friends: "Why don't we dance like this anymore? It's so much fun."

The ball used to draw mostly older people until organizers realized they better involve younger generations, and made a pitch to teens. "We encourage kids to come so we can keep this tradition alive," organizer Ellie Douglass said.

Costumes are encouraged but not required. Koetting will help the uninitiated assemble their French colonial outfit, either by advising them over the phone, or renting them one from her collection.

Proceeds help fund a scholarship program in honor of her late son.

The look can be put together easily with a white blouse, peasant skirt and head kerchief for women and girls. Men and boys wear white shirts, calf-length pants — rolled-up sweat pants work fine — a cummerbund for the waist and long white (soccer) socks. Put buckles on your shoes and you're ready.

When the King's Ball tradition began 250 years ago, a series of get-togethers were held starting 12 nights after Christmas, or Twelfth Night. Cakes were baked for all the events, and one had a bean inside. In modern times, the bean was replaced by a tiny replica of the baby Jesus. The man who got the piece of cake that had the baby Jesus was pronounced the king, and he got to pick his queen. Together they reigned over the year's festivities in Ste. Genevieve.

In 1996, the women of Ste. Genevieve decided that every leap year, women should get a chance to win the slice of cake and the queen should pick her king.

Because 2008 is a leap year, this February's event will be a Queen's Ball.