Reprinted from January 10, 2001

The main street of Lester, Iowa is almost ghostly quiet on most evenings, but if you close your eyes and listen carefully, you can hear the faint strains of songs, reminiscent of a bygone era and the swish of couples dancing as they circle the floor.

As reported by Nadene Pettengill in the Lester Centennial book, from the mid 1920s to the early 1940s, crowds flocked to the little town of Lester every Saturday night. The Lester Ballroom was the largest ballroom in northwest Iowa and young and old alike came to enjoy the music of the big bands of the time. You can only imagine how many romances started at the Ballroom.

The Lester Ballroom actually occupied the upper story of a large garage that had been erected in the 1920s to accommodate the emergence of the automobile. The owners of the garage decided that the upper floor of the garage should be finished off with a maple floor to provide a recreation area. Ballroom dancing was extremely popular and prior to this time, the favorite place for dancing had been the old Opera House in Lester. The Opera House had been built in 1892 and the building was originally an opera house and then later a dance hall.

It was rumored that the second story of the garage was actually condemned as structurally unsound on the very day it was finished, however, if that is true, nothing was ever done to prevent it from being used as a dance hall.

The ballroom was leased by John Bruzer, who had a barber shop in Rock Rapids. He hired popular bands and before long his Saturday night dances were bringing in couples from all over the area. They danced to the music of Lawrence Welk, Al Menke, Tiny Little, Eddie Skeets and Happy Jack from MNAX radio. Eli Rich brought his all-black and from Mississippi and an all-girl orchestra played at the ballroom on one occasion. Some bands from the immediate area were Herman Haack from Rock Rapids, Leutchess from Milford and the Blue Nuggets from Sioux Falls.

Dances were held before every holiday with prizes being given for attendance. There were also special dances billed as "The Battle of the Bands" at which two bands performed, one at each end of the dance hall. Al Menke and Tiny Little were very popular contestants in these competitions and as many as five hundred couples attended when they were performing.

Apparently John Bruzer could drive a hard bargain. The late Lawrence Welk was quoted as saying that in the lean years of the Depression, John agreed to hire the Welk band a specific number of times per year provided they accepted no other engagements within a 50-mile area. This included Sioux Falls. Welk agreed to these terms and although the Welk band gained national fame, it never played in Sioux Falls while the Lester Ballroom was in operation. In those days, Myron Floren, a native of Sioux Falls and later an integral part of the Lawrence Welk Orchestra, would bring his accordion and sit in with the bands just for the fun of it.

John Bruzer’s wife was named Helen but was known as " Billy". She took the Rock Island passenger train from Rock Rapids or caught a ride to Lester early in the day on Saturday. During the winter she made sure that the two coal stoves were fired up and in the summer she started the window fans. While John was still taking care of the Saturday customers in his barber shop, Billy helped the bands set up and she sold tickets in the ticket booth.

In the early years, couples paid 50¢ for admission, which included he state amusement tax. The nominal fee was eventually raised to $1.00. The highest price every charged was $1.50 for special bands or events. There were lots of good dancers who attended the dances at the ballroom. Those of high school age usually attended as singles. It was more fun to dance with lots of good dancers than to be tied down to a single partner. There were usually several older ladies from the community in attendance. They were admitted without charge to sit on the side benches as unofficial chaperones.

World War II brought an end to the happy times at the Lester Ballroom. Gas rationing made it impossible for bands to travel and the young men were called into service. Eventually, John padlocked the door at the foot of the stairs for the last time and an era ended, never to be again. The upstairs did find life again as a roller skating rink, but now sits idle with its memories.

The following narrative was written by Emma Lou Maurer Tolvstad and gives a wonderfully genuine report of what the Lester Ballroom meant to the young people of the time. "We lived a couple of blocks from Main Street, where Lawrence Welk used to play for dances above the old garage in Lester. The floor bounced a lot and everybody said it would collapse, but it never did. The dance hall drew folks from quite a distance around. It had a decent floor but the ceiling showed the rafters and braces of the roof. A Japanese lantern or two hung from the braces and a huge rotating globe hung in the center producing a shadowy (romantic?) light for the moonlight waltzes. A couple of old pot bellied stoves gave a little heat for the draughty place in the winter, but who needed heat? An old chemical toilet and a broken mirror lurked in the ladies’ bathroom. People didn’t sit at tables. A few benches outlined the dance floor but most everybody hung around the foot of the stage until you were asked to dance.

Tiny Little and his band drew the crowds and Al Menke as well as Lawrence Welk. Men had to pay forty cents a ticket and ladies twenty-five. Money was scarce in those days to us high school kids and it took at least a week to wrangle a quarter from somebody to go to the dance on Saturday night. The dole of an allowance was not a Depression kid’s lot. Even babysitting was unheard of for anything more than "thanks."

This one particular Saturday, my mother decided we would can sweet corn. My older sisters happened not to be around that day so I hustled to help Mother, not only to get the twenty-five cents for the Saturday night dance, but to get the coveted "permission" to go, as mother had preconceived religious ideas about dancing.

I kept the old white cookstove fired up with corn cobs. I carried water in and out. We canned boiler after boiler of quart jars filled with sweet corn. We fed the men. Silently I worked in the hot, August kitchen. Would I get to go to the dance that night? I scrubbed the hardwood floor of the kitchen until it was white when we were cleaning up. How tired I was that evening! I didn’t even care if I couldn’t go to the dance. Oh, no! One never was too tired to dance! Now then - to ask mother for the twenty-five cents besides the permission. That was quite a lot to expect. I trudged slowly upstairs. Maybe she’d let me go if I got dressed up. I walked into my room. There on the white bedspread lay a quarter! Without even asking, I had the money and the permission! No pay check, no sum of money ever has looked as gratifying as that beautiful quarter laying on my bed. All fatigue left my tired bones and I got to go where the lights were bright, the music was playing, and people were dancing."