Boots stomping, music playing, people laughing. These are all part of the experience at the Wild West Wednesdays. For the Wiskus family, this event has become a tradition continued over three generations now.
The Wild West Wednesday nights are a country music-based line and couples dancing nights produced by the Dubuque County Fair Board. Mary Gansen, a board member, explained that “the Wild West Wednesday nights originally began with a “live dance” night on WJOD Radio one Saturday a month.” The dance nights were so popular that members of WJOD Radio and Dubuque County Fairground Board decided to add a weekly country dance on Wednesday nights – thus the birth of Wild West Wednesdays. Mary added, “The Wednesday night dances were restricted to 21 and older, however another weekly dance night (Boot Scootin’ Thursday) was added and available to all ages.” Eventually, the Thursday night dances ended and left the Wild West Wednesdays to become open to all ages; making it a perfect family-friendly event for over 30 years.
The Wild West Wednesday dancing nights have grown tremendously in popularity. During the first 25 years, the crowd was mostly adults ages 25 to 85, but in more recent years roughly 85% of the crowd is around the ages of 30 and below. Wild West Wednesdays provide an activity for the whole family to go and enjoy. After being around for quite some time, it is becoming a generational activity; longstanding volunteers are seeing several families come in with not only their children, but even their grandchildren.
Al Wiskus and his wife, Jeannie Wiskus, are longstanding attendees of the Wild West Wednesdays. Al and his wife used to go around dancing at various functions before these nights started, and eventually checked them out when they were the “craze of the 90s”. Al and Jeannie have shared their love for the Wild West Wednesday nights with their children and, now, grandchildren. Nicole Cate, Al and Jeannie’s daughter, has been attending the line dancing nights with her parents since she was about 5 or 6 years old. She grew up spending almost every Wednesday night dancing at the fairgrounds, and now she gets to continue this tradition with her daughter. In addition to the family-friendly dancing, Wild West Wednesdays are a great place to socialize with old and new friends. Nicole shared that she and her husband, Randy Cate, met at the Wild West Wednesday nights and have now been married for 15 years.
Wiskus and Cate both mentioned during their interviews how amazing it is to be able to watch their family enjoy something that they have enjoyed for years. Al recalled, “It is so fun to watch my granddaughter enjoy these nights because it brings back so many memories of when we originally started this tradition with our daughter.” On the other end, Nicole said, “It’s awesome watching them [her parents] dance because they started back in the 90s and now they continue to dance as they age.”
These Wednesday nights have helped this family stay connected with their friends and family across generations and enjoy a fun night out. Bring your family out to the Wild West Wednesday line dancing nights and join the fun!