EP 8 The Sugar Shack in Chillicothe, Illinois
Manage episode 326654175 series 3321570
Dress up and Go Dancing ... that was the tag line for the commercials. It was 1963 and I was just out of high school. Always the entrepreneur, I thought it would be a good idea to create a Teen-A-Go-Go for the youth in my home town. Enjoy
Besides putting my record player out the window and blasting the neighbors I also got into trouble with some other neighbors a little later.
I had graduated from high school and was working as a paint shop helper at Caterpillar Tractor Company in East Peoria, Illinois. I heard the cry that going around that there was no place for the “young people” of Chillicothe to go and have some good clean fun.
After traveling all the way to Peoria and seeing Chubby Checker at the Peppermint Lounge … a youth orientated dance club created by a member of the LaHood family. And I saw such great acts as The Four Seasons and Jerry Lee Lewis. I thought it was time that Chillicothe and the youth deserved a place like the one in Peoria.
After attending a Chillicothe City Council meeting and giving my big speech that Chillicothe needed a place for the youth. Serendipity stepped in. A man named Dean Riggins attended that meeting and afterward we talked on the sidewalk outside of City Hall. I can remember that conversation like it was yesterday. He said, ‘he had a building that just might fit our purpose.’
Dean Riggins was a building contractor with unique visions. He had constructed a motel and boat dock harbor on the shore of the Illinois River. His sales and repair building wasn’t being used and he thought it would really fit our purpose. The building had two sections. The front room which was to be the show room for boats had a polished floor for dancing and the second room would be great for snack bar with tables that we purchased from the LaHood establishments in Peoria.
Dean helped us construct a stage that would fit into one corner. In an old Country Club called Shore Acers, there was an old bar that really wasn’t being used and we transported it to the second room, and we were set.
The Sugar Shack in Chillicothe was born. A place the youth of the area could go to and as our advertising phrase said, ‘Dress Up and Go Dancing.’ We booked bands on Friday and Saturday evening. The first band was a local group called the Rockin’ Ramrods. Feature groups came from St Louis, The Jules Blattner Group, and the biggest night was when The Rivera's appeared when there one-hit-wonder California Sun was #4 in the nation.
The Sugar Shack was a hit. Except for my neighbors.
It seemed Mr. Crossman and Dr. Green and three other neighbors didn’t like all the noise and traffic that we created each weekend. So, after a year and half, they took us to court and had us closed down.
43 episoder