A dance with destiny

NEAR GIMLI — When Darrell and Elaine Klym peeked through the window of the old United Farmers Community Hall a decade ago, the building looked beyond repair.

The dance hall where Darrell and Elaine first met had sagging walls, a hole in the roof (the death knell of older buildings) and a floor cratered in the centre that had turned into a small lake.

And they fell in love again.

The couple, whose hobby is restoring old houses, took on one of their most challenging projects yet, and this one was from the heart.

"It wasn’t a conscious thing, but there’s a pull here for us," said Elaine, a school teacher in the area.

It wasn’t so much that it was the place where they first met — they had only one dance and it took a couple more encounters before they started dating; she was 16 and he was 20. They were drawn to it more because it was Darrell’s family place, and a former social centre of the farm community west of Gimli.

"It represents a time when life was simpler, communities came together to celebrate and dance," Elaine said. "It was a time when people worked together and relied on their neighbours."

"We wanted to give something back," added Darrell.

The original dance hall was built in the 1930s — on the site of the current Gimli Industrial Park — by Ukrainian and German farmers, and was run by a volunteer board.

It was moved onto land donated by Darrell’s grandfather, Nick Klym, in 1941, on Highway 231 just west of Highway 8. Darrell’s father Joe played accordion at the hall with a band called the Sunset Boys. Darrell grew up next door and his family spent many a night at the dance hall or doing the cleanup the next day.

"The Farmers Hall was a rural thing because Gimli had its Gimli Dance Pavilion," said Darrell. But all the Gimli kids loved to come out to Farmers Hall for socials.

It was a who’s who of old-time music groups that played Farmers: the Sunset Boys, the Polka Whippers, Moon Light Ramblers, Hurricanes, Night Hawks, Interlake Polka Kings, Nick Wally and the Vagabonds, the D-Drifters, Winnipeg Melody Kings and Thunder River Boys.

The dances were polkas, waltzes, heel-to-toes, butterflies, and the schottische (a slow polka).

There were many Ukrainian-style weddings where the band busked in the doorway while guests arrived, playing songs such as Pay Sucker Pay with a violin case on the floor, then took the stage later at night, Darrell said.

"A lot of people who were married here are telling me their 50th anniversary is coming up," he said.

It wasn’t as raucous as Crabby Steve’s, the private dance hall run by the late Steve Maksymyk near Komarno. Darrell and Elaine remember going to Crabby Steve’s for many a midnight dance. Homebrew flowed liberally at Crabby Steve’s and fisticuffs were a nightly spectacle.

But Farmers Hall had its share, too.

"(Farmers Hall) was very well known for hiding homebrew under the stage. The store-bought liquor they just called ‘government stuff,’" said Elaine.

"They would serve up homebrew because it was less expensive and it had more kick to it," added Darrell.

Fights broke out from time to time, like when the young men from the Royal Canadian Air Force base down the road tried to mix in. "People would go rolling out the front door. People would wind up in the ditch," said Darrell.

Their seven-year restoration project has brought the old dance hall back in spectacular fashion. It’s tastefully remade in original and salvaged materials, and brimming with items from those dance hall days.

For example, the bar is made from the former baking table of the Braemar Bakery in Winnipeg and is "so solid you could dance on it," said Darrell. The original maple hardwood floors have been restored to withstand dancers’ clacking heels, and grey barnwood from the area is used throughout the interior.

The renovations were not without setbacks. While painting, Elaine fell off a table and broke her pelvis. Darrell, a recently retired electrician, took care of all the electrical needs and much more. They got tremendous help from volunteers in the community, including neighbours and local tradespeople, especially Edwin Petrowski and his sons.

Elaine, of Icelandic descent and originally from Riverton, and Darrell, of Ukrainian descent, renovated five houses before taking on Farmers Hall. "We started married life in Winnipeg, then moved to St. Andrews, then Selkirk, making our way back north. Now we’re in Gimli," Elaine said.

The new Farmers Hall opened three years ago, taking bookings for weddings and socials, and the Klyms recently obtained a licence to stage their own events. Some upcoming bookings include the Gimli Car Club social, a Habitat for Humanity dance, a Lake Winnipeg Foundation fundraiser, weddings, and an Old Tyme Music dance the last Wednesday of every month.

More information is available online at farmershallgimli.com.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca