Gibbon Ballroom was great place to polka, celebrate

 

 

Gibbon Ballroom was great place to polka, celebratehttp://www.mankatofreepress.com/news/local_news/ballroom-was-great-place-to-polka-celebrate/article_88ef19f0-6e9b-11e5-8ac5-8f54aa528788.html

Thousands of old-time music lovers once gathered in Gibbon

Posted: Saturday, October 10, 2015 3:00 pm

Gibbon Ballroom was great place to polka, celebrate By Rommie Petersen Sibley County Historical Society Mankato Free Press

The Gibbon Ballroom building is a Sibley County fixture, where dances and celebrations took place over generations.

The hall had its humble beginnings in 1926 when Gibbon's City Council passed a motion to lease a portion of the town's Village Park. Terms set up for three years called for 5 percent of the gross receipts for each year with a minimum of $200 per year, $100 to be paid in advance by the owners of “The Pavilion.”

Dancing continued in the park until 1932. Old City Council minutes reveal changes of pavilion ownership and information about its move to the present location east of town — out of city limits, in Severance Township.

Property records show a parcel of land was bought by Ernest Jahnke and Albin Haberberg from George Eckert, and the building was moved to its new home. The building had no foundation, standing on piers. There were no booths, just planks around the perimeter.

There was no heat either, so it was closed in the coldest months. If the weather turned cool on a night when a dance was scheduled, men kept their overcoats on while they were on the floor.

Dancing was very popular from the 1920s through the 1940s, but by the early 1950s, the pavilion had fallen into disrepair. Its roof leaked and the ballroom floor warped. The pavilion was sold at a sheriff’s auction in the late 1950s.

 

In 1961, the building was acquired by the Hermel family. After major renovations, it was again a popular ballroom. Old time bands like Whoopee John, Fezz Fritsche, Elmer Scheid and the Six Fat Dutchman came back to Gibbon to play and there were "new time" bands, too — Jules Herman, Guy De Leo and “Preston Love and his all colored band.”

 

The Hermels started Gibbon Polka Days shortly after New Ulm discontinued its Minnesota Street polka celebration in the late 1960s. Gibbon’s celebration grew year by year — with up to 30,000 old-time music lovers attending.

There were campers by the hundreds — in the park, the football field, the county park, at a local gas station and in New Ulm. Many people in town rented rooms to the dancers that came from as many as 40-plus states. They were well-behaved crowds of mostly seniors. They danced in the Ballroom, they danced in the Pumpernickel Room, they danced in the Boom Room, they danced in the South 80, and they danced in the big tent erected in the parking lot.

 

How many romances had their origins at the Gibbon Ballroom? Besides dancing couples, there were the workers — hundreds of locals were employed as waiters and waitresses, bartenders, cooks, dishwashers, security staff, ticket sellers and for several other miscellaneous jobs.

When Gibbon celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1987, events took place in all four of the ballroom buildings.

There were anniversary parties in the Pumpernickel Room and Boom Room. GFW High School had their proms at the ballroom.

The Sibley County Pork Producers used the ballroom for its annual pork chop feed that served more than 1,000 people. The Gibbon Fire Department used the facility for the department's annual dance.

Well-known entertainers have performed in Gibbon, starting with Lawrence Welk, whose troupe waltzed at ballroom 75 years ago. Yanni, a popular new-age musician born in Greece, played in Gibbon with a rock band — when he was a student at the University of Minnesota. Garrison Keillor recorded a live performance at the ballroom in 1997.

Over the decades after its purchase by the Hermel family, ownership of the ballroom changed hands a few more times.

The last business in the Ballroom/Pumpernickel room was a brief appearance of a supper club that opened and closed in 2005. The last big celebration was the Gibbon All School Reunion in the South 80 in 2011.

Gibbon Ballroom's lights are now out. The music has stopped. Its interior has been razed to a big hollow shell where farm equipment is stored.