A SHORT CLUB HISTORY

The Calico Twirlers Square Dance Club was formed in September 1952, and our first caller was Tommy Montague.

We joined the San Diego Square Dance Association in 1954 and our first set of By-Laws was written at that time. Blue and white has been the club colors since the beginning. It was in 1954 that a brand new square dance hall was completed on the historic Bancroft property in Spring Valley and the Calico Twirlers was one of the first clubs to call Memory Lane their home. It was in the late 50's that Johnny Sauer began to call for the club. And in 1960 Lee McCormack became the caller for the next ten years.

It was in the late 60's that the club tried other halls, notably the V-Z Barn and the Lemon Grove Women’s Club(Silverado Ballroom).

In 1970 Dale Miller became the fourth caller for the Calico Twirlers. The club returned to Memory Lane in 1974 and remained there until the hall was sold. On January 21, 1977 we held our first dance at the Loma Verde Recreation Center and Chula Vista became our home.

It was in June 1978 that Dale Miller moved to Texas and we acquired the fine talents of a young caller named Steve Moore and people say that he just gets better and better all the time.

Round Dancing has always been popular at Twirler Dances and in late 1975 Bud Mighetto began to cue our party night dances. This proved so popular that soon we were asking him to cue at all our dances. In mid 1977 Bud was joined by Ted Gustafson on an alternating basis. On March 1, 1980, Helen Mighetto, Bud’s mother began to cue the rounds. Helen eventually retired from cueing and the club has had guest cuers for several years. In 2002 Radka Sandeman became our club cuer. In February 2005, Bill Hale became our club cuer.

The Calico Twirlers are now dancing at the Norman Park Senior Center in Chula Vista, and are enjoying its wonderful wooden dance floor and pleasant surroundings.

Throughout its 50+ years, the club has naturally had some ups and down. Its size has ranged from 20 active squares all the way down to one active square. It has had its share of disagreeable members, personality clashes, cliques, and splits, just as any group of individual human beings is bound to have. Yet it has survived for 50+ years. This is due to the perseverance of the loyal long term members who stuck it out year after year even when it seems the club may be torn apart by opposing factions and it is due to the hard work of dedicated short-term members who contribute enthusiasm and vitality and fresh ideas during their few years with the club. It takes all kinds of dancers working together for the common good of the club to survive for 50+ years.

The author of this original document is unknown. I have made some revisions to bring it up to date.
Richard Cartwright