Club History

The actual organization date of the Victoria Promenaders has been lost in "Clouded memories". The best estimate is that the Club was founded about 1960.  Dues at that time were $1.00 per month per couple.

There were 10 lessons from 8 until 11 P.M. once per week. They danced at 800 Pine Street in the old armory building (later called the Boys Club). It was not air-conditioned. Various groups would get together in someone's garage for practice. Again, no air coditioning. Square dance rules of men wearing long sleeve shirts so the ladies did not have to grab "sweaty, hairy arms" did not make it any cooler. Some of the men took two shirts to the dances and changed about halfway through. Several dancers built four large fans to help out, most stood in front of them between tips. Those of us dancing today marvel at those folks dancing without air conditioning.

The first callers were Eddie Smith and Charley VanMetre. Both loved to dance so one would dance while the other called and then they switched places. Dub Crane also was an early caller. Fred Goynes is the current caller and has called for the Club for 34 years.

The Club joined the South Texas Square and Round Dance Association in the early 60's and traveled to other dances in the area. Each member club sponsored an assocation dance once per year.

In the early 60's the Club sponsored the Junior Promenaders for those under 16 who wanted to learn square dancing. It was a very large club for a while, graduating some 125 dancers in one year.

A fun weekend dance event was started in 1978 to put Victoria square dancing on the map of South Texas and to provide another activity for club members to get to know each other better. It was called "The Victoria Promenaders Summer Round-up" and later called the "Victoria Crossroads Round-up". The weekend was made up of a Friday night dance, a Saturday afternoon workshop followed by a BBQ dinner. The main dance was held on Saturday night. The weekend was attended by as many as 325 dancers from all over South Texas. The Crossroads was discontinued 1997 as Square Dancing declined in popularity.

The Club continues to function with 20 to 30 dancers attending each week.