By Kim McDarison

With dinner nearly finished, the lights within the Lake Ripley Country Club banquet room dimmed and “Marcy and the Highlights,” a Madison-based band, began to play.

That was the cue Saturday night for Club 46 members and their guests to move onto the dance floor.

With a kind of choreographic precision typically found in romance musicals, couples glided across the floor in concentric circles, with each pair independently adding to the intricacy of the motion by swirling and twirling on its own axis.

With 55 participants in attendance at the Cambridge-based golf course clubhouse, the dance space was filled anew with each tune performed by the four-piece band.

Couples — some of whom were instinctively synchronized as longterm partners while others appeared more recently paired — laughed, embraced and looked happily into one another’s eyes as they explored the dance floor and the enthusiasm of the evening.

Among attendees were Sondra and Scott Miskowiak. The Janesville couple was celebrating its third wedding anniversary.   

People join the club to have fun, Janis Lindsey, a member of the social club and its organizing committee, said. 

Saturday’s event was one of three traditionally held each year by the club, she said, adding that  the club’s next dances will be held early next year, in February and May.

The club’s season runs from September of 2023 through May of 2024.

Lindsay said that while the club was begun in 1950 with 46 couples, today, the group has 40 active members, and is hoping to attract more.

According to a club history written by member Jim Wesner, the group was begun with 46 couples and, during its early years, capped its membership at that number, but, Lindsey said, that rule no longer applies. Anyone interested in fine dining, dancing and socializing, married or single, is welcome to join.

Wesner, Fort Atkinson, who has been a member of the group for four years, said he also is the group’s unofficial historian.

During dinner, Wesner took a moment to share some Fort Atkinson history. Pointing to a plaque mounted on the clubhouse wall, he said the late Wilson Beebe, of Fort Atkinson, who also was a founding member of Club 46, won the Fort Atkinson City Golf Tournament in 1937, and again in 1950 and 1951.

The club attracts members from a broad region, Lindsey said, noting that members come from such communities as Fort Atkinson, Jefferson, Whitewater, Madison, Middleton, Fitchburg, and Sun Prairie, among others.

Over the years, the dances have typically been held at the Lake Ripley  and Koshkonong Mounds country clubs, she said, but Club 46 members have recently been considering branching out and exploring additional locations.

Club and organizing committee member Teresa Brawders, Jefferson, said the group has begun exploring locations in Fort Atkinson, Whitewater and Jefferson, and other surrounding communities. 

Brawders said she joined the club some seven or eight years ago.

“It’s such a fun, social event. We talk, and laugh, and eat, and dance; it’s a fun evening out,” she said.

Lindsey said, she, too, joined for the purpose of socializing. A member for two years, she said, she joined after recently moving to the Fort Atkinson area.

“I moved from the Madison/Middleton area and I was doing ballroom dancing for a long time, and I was looking for an avenue to dance and meet more people,” she said.

On Saturday, following the event’s cocktail hour, a dance lesson was offered to those interested in learning ballroom dance steps or brushing up on their skills.

Offering the lesson during the dinner and dance event is new, Lindsey said. During Saturday’s lesson, couples practiced the waltz.

On the dance floor, Linda Kiesow, a club member for two years, helped seasoned dancers and beginners alike find their stride.

Following the cocktail hour, participants found their seats in the banquet room and enjoyed a three course meal, including salad, an entree and dessert. 

As dinner arrived and club members took their seats, Wesner, serving as master of ceremonies, welcomed the group’s four new members who were in attendance Saturday, and the group’s guests.

Club 46 is a dues-driven club, Lindsey said, noting that the annual dues are used to pay for the bands hired each year to perform at the three dances.

According to information released by the club online, membership dues for the 2023-24 season are $100 per couple and $50 per individual, with those monies used to pay for bands, room fees and miscellaneous expenses.

Dinners for each dance range between $80 per couple and $50 per individual with tax and gratuity included. Dues do not cover the cost of the meals.

Dance fees for non-member guests are $40 per couple and $20 per individual.

Ken Heim, a bass guitar player and singer with Marcy and the Highlights, and also Marcy’s husband, said the band has played at Club 46 events before and is familiar with playing music that appeals to dance-related clubs.

Over the years, he said, the band, which was formed by Marcy Heim in the 1980s, has played at numerous ballroom dancing events across the area.

Ken Heim said about 12 dance clubs once operated in the extended Madison area, but after the COVID-19 pandemic, many did not resume their event schedules.

“There are only about three or four clubs left,” he said, adding that the band plays at many of their events.

According to the band’s website, Marcy, who received an honorable mention in the Nashville Music City Song Festival for her original song: “Maybe Together was Better,” and “got a strong dose of rhyme and blues as a singer with Clyde Stubblefield and the Motown Players,” noted that for her, a highlight was performing with the UW Varsity Band under the direction of Mike Leckrone in the Kohl Center.

Ken Heims said he and Marcy met in 1986, when he auditioned for the band, and they have been playing together ever since. The couple has been married for 33 years.

The band also includes Pat Green, who plays the drums. Ken Heim said Green has been with the band, on and off, for 25 years. A fourth member, Andy Yaun, plays the guitar and sings. Ken Heim recalled that Yaun began playing with the band before he could drive a car. He has been a member, on and off, for 10 years.

The band plays a variety of music, including classic rock and roll, country, swing, Latin, and, Heim said, “anything you can dance to.”

Looking ahead, the club has made plans to hold its next dinner and dance on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, at the Koshkonong Mounds Country Club, Fort Atkinson. Live music during the event will be performed by “Nine Thirty Standard.” To learn more about the band, visit its website: https://www.ninethirtystandard.com/.

On Saturday, May 18, 2024, the club will sponsor a dance at the Lake Ripley Country Club, Cambridge. Live music during the event will be performed by “All that Jazz Big Band.” To learn more about the band, visit: https://meowx.com/atj/.

For more information about Club 46, contact Lindsey by phone: 608-333-9619 or Brawders by phone: 920-650-1143. 

Photos from Saturday’s dinner and dance follow.