Do-si-don’t

Square dance venue closed over fire code violations

Unless the Whirl & Twirl Square and Round Dance Club somehow raises $65,000 in the next three weeks, the troupe’s Orange County dance hall has probably staged its last hoedown.

A fire marshal shut down the venue Aug. 8, forbidding all do-sidoeing until the social club gets a certificate of occupancy and adds fireproofing, including a sprinkler system, though club members have swung partners ‘round and ‘round there for nearly a quarter century.

A tipster sparked a surprise fire and building inspection that revealed missing safety devices at Whirl & Twirl, located on Venture Circle in a commerce park, east of the Orlando VA Medical Center in Baldwin Park. Inspectors could find no documents proving the club ever obtained a county-issued occupancy permit certifying the dance hall complied with fire and building codes.

“I’m afraid we’re going to lose our hall,” said Alice Craft, copresident of the social club and a featured performer on “Traveling Hoedowners,” a series of instructional square-dancing videos and DVDs produced by Michael Craft, her husband and co-president.

A search of club records turned up minutes of a board meeting in 1995 that mentioned a county inspection found a kitchen fire-extinguisher that needed to be replaced but not the occupancy permit.

Club members, who jointly acquired the metal-sided warehouse for $145,000 in 1993, are slated to vote Oct. 19 whether to upgrade the hall or sell it.

Losing the wooden dance floor would be especially hurtful because it is a unique attraction, the best in the region, Craft said.

But many club members are leaning toward selling the venue, fearing the upgrade costs will top $80,000, a pricey challenge for a nonprofit social organization whose aging ranks of twirlers and whirlers have grown thin as a bolo tie.

Commercial real-estate agents, on the other hand, estimate the club could net nearly $400,000 if they sold the venue as a warehouse — money that could be used to rent other halls for hoedowns.

“We believe square dancing is fading because older members are no longer physically able to dance,” said Craft, 68, who estimated the club has fewer than 50 active members, a troubling low for the group organized in 1962. “We need new blood.”

In 2005, the club boasted 200 members with 100 or so attending most dances.

The organization had hoped to get a youthful infusion after a summer barn dance, a membership push that promised free dance lessons.

But then came the unexpected inspection and the fire marshal’s bad news.

“When we became presidents, we didn’t know any of this stuff,” said Craft, whose one-year term guiding the club began in June. “We didn’t know any of this was even required.”

County records show Orange County commissioners gave the group permission in 1993 to operate the former 15,000-square-foot warehouse as a square-dance hall although it was located in a restricted industrial district.

The only restricting condition: no alcohol sales on premises.

“Our beloved Whirl and Twirl hall now sits empty,” Craft posted on the group’s Facebook page over a photo of the desolate venue, which sports wagon wheels over the doors.

Craft, who learned to square dance in college, hasn’t given up hope yet.

Square-dancers in Maryland and New Jersey are staging fundraisers for the club, which organized a musical benefit Sunday at the Redeemer Lutheran Church, 3377 Aloma Ave, Winter Park.

Two days after getting notice to shut down the hoedown, the Crafts also launched a worldwide, crowd-funding appeal on GoFundMe to “Help Us Save Our Dance Hall.”

“Many nights we have had the opportunity to welcome guests who are here in Orlando on vacation, and who wish to participate in one of the few truly American cultural activities — the SQUARE DANCE,” they said in the online pitch.

The plea so far has raised less than $5,000.

Married in 1972, the Crafts met as mathematics students at Keene State College in New Hampshire.

Michael, who grew up on Long Island, N.Y., admittedly despised his wife’s dancing diversion for decades.

He decried the dancers’ western wear and petticoats as “clown outfits” and recalled his initial contempt for the activity.

“I remember saying, ‘I can’t believe anyone would do this,’” Michael Craft said. “I told her, ‘I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to hear about it. I’m never going to do that...Forget about it.’”

Now, he not only dances but serves as the group’s official photographer.

The Crafts don’t dancing to the club.

“We go all over the state to dance at different clubs,” Michael Craft said. “We’ve gone to Europe to dance.” limit their