WATERLOO - This is a big hairy deal.

The College of Hair Design, known to many longtime residents simply as "the barber college," is 50 years old.

And the Waterloo institution is marking its half century of existence with a passage to a new generation of ownership.

Joe and Ardy Squiers, who have run the school for decades, have retired and formally passed ownership of the college to their daughter, Deb McFarland, who has been with the college 14 years and taken an active role in its management.

Ardy, a company officer, retired in January. Joe, who has been with the college 40 of its 50 years and held an ownership interest since the mid-'70s, will continue to help out as an instructor.

The double milestones - the 50th anniversary and transfer of ownership - mean one thing: It's party time.

The college is planning an anniversary reunion of its graduates from 7 to 10 p.m. Aug. 4 at Electric Park Ballroom. All former students, all the way back to the beginning, are invited.

Former co-owner Guy Barton, who had been with the college from the beginning and was sole instructor for the school's first 10 years, also is anticipated to attend.

"We're trying to contact as many people as we can that ever attended school," Joe Squiers said. "We'll plan some hors d' oeuvres and a deejay and a little dance and a get together. It's just a chance for people to see any of the people they might have gone to school with. We're going back 50 years. We have old applications from students from the time they started 50 years ago."

"I went back to 1957 and looked and some of the (students') parents still have the same phone number," Ardy said. She has been able to locate students that way.

"We're finding students all over the country. In fact, we've got one in Australia," Joe Squiers said. Ardy and Deb have been doing most of the reunion work. "So far they've gotten hold of 500" former students, Joe said. "We're looking forward to it."

The college, founded in 1957 as the Barber College, left a parking-constrained East Fifth Street location in 1987 for a site at 810 La Porte Road. But when a downtown building with adequate parking became available, they jumped at the chance to move back.

The college purchased its current location at 722 Water St. in 1997. The building originally was the home of the Black Hawk Fruit Co., later Hoxie Fruit Co., and was later home to Brinkley's Landing restaurant in the 1980s and Huckleberry's in the 1990s. Ardy pointed out that the barber college has been the building's longest-term occupant since Hoxie.

Last fall the building was sold to S&J Enterprises, the company of Schmitt Telecom Partners executive Steve Schmitt.

The school started out with an enrollment of about six to 12 students in its early ears. Current enrollment is 43, McFarland said. Joe said the school has an enrollment reflecting the Cedar Valley's racial and ethnic diversity.

Business at the college itself and the industry in general is as good as it is ever been, Joe said. That creates a good job market which has supported enrollment as the college has diversified the kinds of skills it teaches, among them, nails, eyebrows, makeup and spa-style services.

"People are so much more fashion conscious," Joe said. "It isn't just hair care any more." It is a far cry from two generations ago when "the barber college" was restricted to men's hair.

"In the 40 years that Ardy and I have been involved, the Cedar Valley has been just fantastic," he said. "We've got clients that have been coming to our school for 50 years."

"It's a fun school," Joe said. "The one thing I do know is that these kids keep you young."

Information about the 50th anniversary event may be obtained by contacting the college at (319) 232-9995

Contact Pat Kinney at (319) 291-1484 or Pat.Kinney@wcfcouriercom