History Of Buttons & Bows Square & Round Dance Club Irving, Texas.

A Brief History

Harvey Lanier formed Buttons & Bows in July 1965, after finishing his term as President of NORTEX. He began calling for Buttons & Bows, but due to health reasons was only able to call for the club a short time.  It was at this point he asked a caller named Johnny Hozdulick to fill in for him. Harvey did not return to Buttons & Bows and Johnny continued to call for the club for 14 years until he retired in September 1979. Afterwards, the club used guest callers for several years.

Our Valentine Special Dance started in 1971 under the leadership of Horace & Marza Dippel. It was such a success that it has been continued to this day. At this dance we have raffled off $100 bills, had honey pots, door prizes, cakewalks, photo booth, and salad suppers. It is not unusual to have 200 guests. The size of this special dance causes us to hold it in the Georgia Farrow Recreation Center gymnasium, West Park in Irving, Texas.

In 1988, Buttons & Bows welcomed Jerry & Mary Beth Gilbreath as caller until 1995 when they moved to Albuquerque, NM.  In September 1995 John & Nell Mennerick became club caller until November 1997. After having guest callers for several months, Button & Bows chose Barry and Janice Hendricks to become club caller starting August 8, 1998 and remains club caller today.

Our members have served in many positions in NORTEX both elected and appointed offices.. We have also served as Nortex host club several times, served on decoration and other committees. Buttons & Bows has been selected as “Club Of The Year” twice, once in 1990 and again in 2004.

Round Dancing Is Added

In 1968, Round Dancing was added to the activities with Pete Peterman as cuer. There were no regular cuers from 1970–1983 when Floyd and Rita Maddox came to the club. Floyd cued 13 years, retiring in the summer of 1996. In 1997 we welcomed a new cuer,  Mel and Carolee  Neuman.  Mel and Carolee cued for us until September 1999. Beginning November 2000, we had guest cuers at each dance, until Melanie and Allin Sealy became cuers. The Sealys were Cuers until December 30, 2006. January 2007 found Charles & Tanya Crockett as Buttons Cuers. The Crocketts' are club cuers to this day.

In 1989 the club moved to West Park Recreation Center on Davis Street. Lessons are still held at this center, and the club considers it Home Base. (We are affiliated with Irving Parks and Recreation, which has made it possible to use this hall and others). In June 1995, the City of Irving moved our regular dances to Senter Park East. We have enjoyed forty-three years of continuous dancing and welcome those who enjoy a family atmosphere.

Buttons and Bows donate money and time to West Park Recreation Center. Seven of our members serve on their Advisory Board. We also do other volunteer work for the City Of Irving. Our community service includes helping Irving Cares, Toys For Tots, back to school supplies for Irving’s needy children, all through garage sales and other fundraisers.

We have done exhibition dancing at Irving Heritage Days, Irving Mall, and the Texas State Fair, as well as homes for the elderly.  

We love good clean fun filled activities and people, give us a try, you’ll like us. We dance 1st & 3rd Saturday nights of each month, at the Senter Park East Recreation Building, located at 228 Chamberlain, Irving, Texas.

Additionally;

Buttons & Bows is a member of the NORTEX Area of Texas. We are one of about 53 clubs that make up this area. NORTEX is the governing body of those clubs, and provide them with a publication called the “Promenade”. NORTEX main objective is to serve the clubs and dancers belonging to its organization. NORTEX brings the clubs together in many ways to promote square & round dancing in ways that benefit us all.

We are also fortunate to have some of the best callers and cuers anywhere here in our area. Their organization is called the “North Texas Callers Association”. This organization is dedicated to the dancers of our area and is a great benefit to us. The callers association has stringent expectations for their members and trainees.

Altogether we are a community enjoying a healthy lifestyle, and friendship set to music.

We offer square dance lessons once or twice a year, and we try to tailor them to the needs of those taking the lessons. We offer a partner during lessons for those taking that do not have a partner.

Our membership consists of both married and single people. Congeniality and an understanding of a democratically run club is expected of our members. Children are accepted as associate members if their parents are members of the club.

We follow a constitution and by-laws in governing the club and expect members to stay current with our nominal club dues, and this is required to be a voting member.

You will find our members to be friendly and energetic in club and community activities.

You will find a phone number on the site map page under the club presidents name. We invite you to call for information about joining our club. We also invite you to come and visit us soon.