Smoke-, alcohol-free club marks 10th year
Few people 10 years ago gave Bob and Pat Crossman’s country and Western dance club, The Crossroads, a chance of survival. After all, everyone knows you’ve got to serve alcohol to get people in the mood to dance. And where there’s booze, there’s cigarettes, so the Crossmans’ idea for a smoke- and alcohol-free dance club seemed to doom the enterprise from the get-go.
Today the dance club is still going strong, precisely because it’s smoke- and alcohol-free. Now the only known club of its kind in the Northwest, the Crossmans celebrated with a 10th anniversary dinner party in early October.
“Everyone loves to come (here), because there is no friction,” said club patron Mary Lambert. The “friction” she was alluding to is the usual bar scene, where dancers have to interact with alcohol-induced behavior.
“I’ve had so many people come in here and say I’ve saved their life,” said Bob Crossman, referring to the chance the club allows to socialize and dance in such an atmosphere. “More than a few people who have lost a life partner have made this place a part of their weekly schedule.”
After doing “one-nighters” of teaching dance or giving performances for so many years, the Crossmans had longed to build a place they could use as a home base for lessons and dances, and allow their friends and patrons to congregate, socialize and learn new dance steps. They erected the Crossroads Dance and Event Club in October 1995, and since then have taught thousands to dance, and have held many parties and special events at the club.
The anniversary party featured a video “Ten years at The Crossroads,” which showed many in the audience at one time or another at the club, mostly while dancing. Next, the video showed some of their many group outings.
“We go camping and also biking at least once a year (with other patrons),” said longtime patron and catering helper Kim Frymire. Charities the club has been involved in include the Wishing Star Foundation and Boys and Girls Club. Crossroads patrons also pick up litter along Highway 41 through the adopt-a-highway program.
The video also showed all the places the Crossmans have taught dancing before building their own place, including the Sands Hotel, Woodworkers Union Hall, Steelworkers Hall, and the Post Falls and Hayden Eagles clubs. The Crossmans have performed at the Coeur d’Alene resort and area fairs through the years, along with other special events too numerous to mention.
Various couples have met and been married at their club, including James and Barbara Fillmore and Jim Blake and Tammy Boyd.
“We met at the Woodworker’s Hall at one of their lessons,” James Fillmore recalled. “After eloping to New Orleans, we also had a reception here when they got the place built.”
“This is one of those places that allows you to recover from a bad marriage,” said Blake, only half jokingly. “Anyone around tonight will tell you; the family atmosphere here with no drinking or smoking is second to none.”
Even with a heart valve replacement, Blake still ventures out on the dance floor from time to time.
Bob Crossman has met many people during his decades as a dance instructor.
“I have taught so many different types of people, and you become friends,” he said. “Doctors, lawyers – I even had an Indian chief from Worley once.”
Even so, business tended to get a little slow during the summers, so about nine years ago the Crossmans started a catering business to supplement the club’s income. With many of Pat Crossman’s recipes on the menu, their Kicker Catering venture has been successful, and many weddings and receptions have been held at the facility just off Interstate 90.
The earliest the club is open is 5:30 p.m., for “Linercise” classes, a popular form of an exercise routine that Bob Crossman came up with by using line-dancing steps. Beginning dance lessons are Tuesdays 8 to 9 p.m., and Fridays 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., costing $30 for five weeks. Dances are line, two-step, couples, cha-cha and waltz. The club also hosts private events and receptions. Call the club for more details.