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" The winter of 1953, Big Bend School was planning its annual talent show for the local P.T.A. In the past, someone had written a play or used various musical numbers. They wanted something special and different.
"A couple from Big Bend made a trip to Chicago to visit relatives, and while there they attended the WLS National Barn Dance radio show. That was it — they called up musicians from the area, borrowed western clothing and called themselves 'The Big Bend Dance Gang.'"
Teenagers weren't the ones clamoring for a dance at Big Bend Lutheran Church, Milan, Minn., earlier this year. The idea surfaced as four retired members — Larry Larson, Floyd Kanten, Denny Olson and Mike Anderson — were removing pews from the sanctuary so the floor could be resurfaced. One of them suggested the empty room would be perfect for a dance.
That was a Thursday in February. "By Sunday I was dancing with my granddaughter in the sanctuary," said Beatrice Olson, sitting in the church basement next to her granddaughter Katey Olson, who nodded in agreement.
The Big Bend Barn Dance Gang was the inspiration for a dance at Big Bend Lutheran Church, Milan, Minn. The only original member of the gang still living is Adelaide Olson (front row, second from right), who lives in Appleton, Minn. A 1983 article in the Milan Standard-Watson Journal said the gang had to cancel a 1969 gig at the Hilton Hotel, Minneaplis, because "it started snowing to beat the dickens. The gang never got their chance to play the big time."
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© 2013 Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
