The greatness of America was on display Friday night, when between 400 and 500 revelers — people of all races, ages, genders and walks of life — boogied big time during a bittersweet farewell to legendary Lola’s restaurant.

The dance floor in the main dining room was so crowded that any single person out there never had to worry about a partner. The Island’s popular musicians took turns at their instruments, never missing a note as if they had rehearsed together for years. Some were too young to have heard the music they were playing when it was first played by musicians like Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, Prince and Wilson Picket. In the bar, five deejays played countless other tunes and the overflow crowd kept the dance floor polished as never before.

“Race, age and social background didn’t matter,” exclaimed Barbara Edelin, who started coming to the Vineyard with her family from Chicago when she was three. “We all had come to have a good time and say goodbye to Lola’s on Martha’s Vineyard. It was the best time I’ve had in a long time.”

Another longtime Vineyarder, Gretchen Wortham, recalled Paul Domitrovich, who along with his wife Kathy owned and managed Lola’s for the past 25 years. “What I saw on that floor tonight was a mixture of all that is good on this Island,” she said. “A band and a deejay, with folks of all colors saying a joyous goodbye to our friend.”

Some regaled the occasion with Facebook posts.

Others like Sara Dingledy, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School principal, talked about the growing allure of the Island, not least having to do with Lola’s.

“No one feels like a newcomer or a stranger . . . at Lola’s,” she said. “As a tourist, then a summer resident and now a year-rounder, Lola’s has always been a favorite of mine. I am so grateful to have had the chance to drop in on the party on Friday night.”

Kathy Domitrovich was there of course, broadly smiling as usual, greeting old and new friends as they entered the restaurant. She also could be seen from time to time on the line in the kitchen helping load plates with a wide variety of foods for the last time.

And Kathy being Kathy — originally from Detroit and schooled in the traditions of New Orleans — could also be seen dancing on the bar as the evening wore on.

“The Queen was on her throne . . . long live Kathy!” said longtime Vineyarder Gretchen Tucker Underwood, who sat in the main dining room with her 100-year-old mother, Mary Tucker.

“The final hurrah felt like a time capsule to me, loaded with decades of personalities, sentiment, and enthusiasm,” said Vineyard artist Margot Datz whose murals line the walls at Lola’s. “As I looked around, I saw so many faces that I had painted on the walls in the murals so long ago. And thought of those who were no longer with us, like our dear Paul,” she said “That night marked the end of an era, in our lives and in Island history.”

Concluded Amy Goldson:

“Martin Luther King’s dream come true — black and white together — at Lola’s. I do not want to wake up for the dream to end.”

Amen to that!

Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Skip Finley live in Oak Bluffs.