Bands like “Teen Kings and the Princes” (above) also performed at area dance halls.
Here’s the story we “teased” you with last week about “someone or something” from the area is the in SD Rock’n'Roll Hall of Fame
I don’t talk about this on the pages of the True Dakotan, after all I’m a fine upstanding small town newspaper editor. But, what the heck, nobody reads this Internet stuff anyway….. right?
But if you grew up in the 1950′s through the 1980′s, in the Wessington Springs/Lane/Woonsocket/Forestburg area, you “MIGHT” have ventured to one of the area dance halls.
The Lane Rainbow Ballroom was one of those places in the area during my mid-sixties reign of terror. How we ever got home from some of those dances is beyond me… I mean, well, I don’t know how we did it. Red and Walt Deneke ran a pretty tight ship “inside” the halls of the Rainbow. They were n0-nonsense brothers of good size and disposition. Red was also a big left-handed baseball pitcher for the Woonsocket amateur team and I saw him throw a lot of baseballs from the Wessington Springs pitcher’s mound.
Well, anyway, a bunch of us went to see Buddy Knox and to hear his national smash, “Come along and be my Party Doll”, on a given summer night in Lane. Being a young man of meager means, I had enough money for a little moonshine or to pay my way into see Buddy Knox. We always could find someone to give you a “tattoo” –you slightly dampen the Lane Ballroom ink stain that had been rubber stamped to the back of your hand, and “transfer” it to your own hand. Voila, instant access.
Everybody was pretty excited about getting in to see Buddy Knox, and at showtime the parking lot was empty…. except for me. All alone, I peered through a small opening in the Bon Ami-coated front window and could see every one of my friends dancing to “Party Girl”.
A little down in the dumps, I drank the small bottle of moonshine, threw up, passed out in the back seat of a friend’s car, and was taken home at the end of the night. No Buddy Knox…. no dancing with Betty Lou… no nuthin’ Just a headache in the morning and a dull wish that I had spent the two bucks on admission.
While still playing rock’n'roll of my own, our “South Gulch Band” performed the opening night at the new Lane Rainbow Ballroom when the Brueske brothers remodeled the old Lane school into a dance hall. We also played there with Williams and Ree, Ivory and Ivory Star, Bachman, Turner Overdrive, Johnny Holmes Show and others.
Ruskin Park, a ballroom near Forestburg, was similar to the one in Lane, perhaps a little more dangerous for young men in attendance (fights had a habit of breaking out at any given moment). Enjoy the following story about Ruskin Park — maybe the Lane Rainbow Ballroom will be next. Craig Wenzel
Saturday nights were crazy, rock’n’rollin’ times during the hay days of area ballrooms. And on April 24, 2010 –a Saturday, by the way– Ruskin Park, a ballroom along the James River near Forestburg, was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame. More than 1,600 people were on hand to watch as several vintage bands and popular ballrooms were inducted. Ruskin Park was a popular gathering spot for residents from Huron to Mitchell and every little town in between over several decades.
Music from big bands in the early days turned to rock and roll in the 1950s , 1960s, and 1970s. The ballroom saw many top national acts including Conway Twitty to regional bands such as Roscoe and his Little Green Men from Mars. Bands like “Teen Kings and the Princes” (above) also performed there. Long may the memory of those live music performances, and those who attended the dances, live on for several generations. Could the Lane Rainbow Ballroom be next?
on Sep 20th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Enjoyed reading the story of the bands at old Ruskin Park and did not know the park was inducted into the South Dakaota Hall of Fame. On the grounds of Ruskin Park also rests the remnants of an old dirt track auto speedway that held many events from the late ‘teens’ until approximately the early 1950′s. I first asked permission and then drove back in the park about 10 years ago to look at the old track. At the time a small portion of a once huge wooden grandstand was being used as a corn crib. The outline of the track was very clear and the banking in the corners still is very steep. Unchecked weeds and trees grow on the running surface of the track but it was still a step back in time for me.