The future of the Plant City Social Dance Club was in peril after its longtime venue, Stardust Dance Center, shut down earlier this year. But the club has found a new home.
Last Friday, a committee within the club voted to move the dances to the National Guard Armory on Airport Road in Plant City, which has a multipurpose room that is often rented out for receptions and other events.
The club hosted weekly dances at Stardust since 1999. It had to stop when Stardust closed after its neighbor, Bealls Outlet, wanted to expand into its space. Executives for the anchor store in the shopping center where Stardust was located threatened to leave the center unless they could take over Stardust’s space. The property manager agreed. The owners of Stardust had to move out.
Ken Miller, president of the club, refused to let the obstacle keep the club from dancing. For a few weeks, the club’s events were held at the Plant City Woman’s Club, but the room could not accommodate as many dancers as had been attending at Stardust.
So Miller formed the committee of club members to search for a new venue. The National Guard Armory was a perfect fit.
The space is 5,775 square feet; larger than the dance floor at Stardust.
“We’re excited about coming here. It’s going to give us room to dance, room to grow,” Miller said. “We could have some huge crowds in here over time.”
Miller likes how the floor at the armory is slick and smooth, but it could never replace the floating wood floor at Stardust, he said.
Contact Catherine Sinclair at csinclair@plantcityobserver.com.