# Johnson's Barn Dances in Arthur



## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

Who all here has been to Johnson's? High school or college?

I just received this article from a buddy... and man it brought back some memories!

-----

Ever been here before? A Legacy of revelry

Dave Roepke
The Forum - 05/11/2007
Arthur, N.D.

Growing up next to a dance hall didn't burn Eric Johnson out on parties. Picking up after the dances, as he has most of his life, is a different story.
That's probably made me a little neater at other people's houses, he says.

The 22-year-old is part of the third generation of Johnsons to throw regular barn dances a couple miles north of Arthur, N.D. It's a legacy of revelry more than a half-century old that shows no signs of stopping, even in an age when a hayloft hootenanny seems too quaint for the teens and college kids who populate the crowds at Johnsons Barn.

It's kind of like this area's best-kept secret,says Jason Brekhus, frontman for cover band 24 Seven, a frequent barn performer.

At a dance in late April, the barn seemed like a particularly well-kept secret. The crowd at the 500-person hall was still hovering at about 100 or so as midnight ticked close. "Sometimes you sell out. Sometimes you don't," Brian Johnson, Eric's father, says with a shrug. The barn's biggest draw, steel-guitar-driven country band Avalanche, played to a sold-out house the weekend previous.

Kalvin Hoff and Celie Norgaard, 22-year-old students at North Dakota State University, stand in a circle with friends at the back of the floor, sipping on bottles of beer. They don't remember how they heard of the barn, but they know they like it.

For one, it's nice to get out of town, Hoff says.

There's nothing wrong with a road trip, he says.

Plus, there aren't too many venues like Johnson's Barn: an all-ages live music venue where of-age attendees can bring in their own beer.

It's a good idea,Hoff says. It's something other than a club and something young people can go do.

Brekhus says he frequently hears from young fans who tell their grandparents a bout this new joint they found, only to be told: That's not new! That's _Herbs_!

As the fading photos of past bands plastered to the barn walls attest, the dances are indeed nothing new.

I know it's corny, but you can feel the history there, Brekhus says.

The history stretches back to 1952, when Brian's father Herb replaced his burned barn by hauling one in from Grandin, N.D. ... traveling about a dozen miles as the crow flies across the ditch-free countryside on three single-axle trucks.

Brian, who with his wife Becky now owns the barn and working farm, wasn't around to help with the move. He was being born.

This is all my life, Brian Johnson says of the barn.

Before he even filled the dairy barn's loft, Herb held a fundraising dance for the local fire department. It went well, so he decided to have a few of his own, says Brian.

Dances quickly became Herb's new crop. That was cemented in 1954 when he installed the maple planks that still cover the 120-foot by 35-foot loft. Over the next 20 years, bands played and locals danced. And it was mostly locals, Brian says. It used to be you wouldn't drive 30 miles away, he says. Now we get hardly anybody from 10 miles away.

Folks dressed fancier back then, he says, and the music initially was big-band groups. In the 1960s, rockers copping the British-invasion sound took the stage for the Friday dances. Come Saturday, the barn hosted roller skating.

After a lull in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and Herb's death in 1985, Brian and Becky started up the dances again after seeing a band called *Pure Country* at a bar in nearby Blanchard, N.D.

That led to the reemergence of the regular barn parties, this time with a focus on country music. People started dancing again,Brian says.

Twang has been the barn's best bet since the dances started again in 1988. It's what Norgaard, the NDSU student, likes best about Johnson's.

It's country here, she says. There is no rap or any of that.

Though it has been host to many a fight over the years (anybody who complains about kids these days has forgotten the 1960s), Brian says the barn has few problems with the law, thanks to the off-duty Cass County deputies hired as security.

But it does retain a rowdy sensibility. While 24 Seven was playing, Becky walked up to a girl in a pink tank top who was wildly gyrating while standing on a metal folding chair.

Becky tapped her on the shoulder not to tell her to stop, but to take her picture for the collection of party photos that Becky started shooting in 1994. Many of these pictures are posted on the facility's Web site,

http://www.johnsonsbarn.com.

That wouldn't fly in most area clubs and bars, but those places aren't situated above a hog pen. Maybe the smell wafting up through the maple loosens the mood.

We farm and raise pigs and have dances,Becky says.

Becky never figured she and Herb would spend 20 years throwing dances. She has no complaints, she just didn't think it would last that long.

If her son has anything to say about it, the barn is nowhere near its twilight.

I'd like to keep it going, Eric says.


----------



## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

I have been there a few times.
My Grand parents actually lived there when my father was born!! They rented the place back then. Kind of cool that I have a family link to the place!!!!


----------



## Sasha and Abby (May 11, 2004)

There are a bunch of BIG women there!!!! Does look like fun though.


----------



## Maverick (Mar 4, 2002)

Been there, done that....in High school we used to sneak out there and have a few. We would stop at the PIT before we went there. Anyone know where the PIT is?


----------



## hunt4P&amp;Y (Sep 23, 2004)

I went there for the first time last week. I went with onw guy and 6 girls. So you see why I wen't, but yes other then the girls I went with, I think I saw 3 "hot" girls. Alot of them had the right idea. "KEEP DANCING" It was really fun. I think the more people you bring the better it is. There was alot of "older" men there hitting on the young girls, but I guess they need some fun also.


----------



## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

I have gone once, about 10 years ago. 2 females drove me there (1 was a friend and the other I just met that night), met a few more; it was a great time !!! (It was also wedding party for an old "female drinking buddy".)


----------



## Tator (Dec 10, 2005)

Ahhhh yes, the barn dances. good times. We use to make it in college, get a group and drive from UND down there. Lotta women if you hit the right nights!!! Avalanche and 32 Below were the most poplular when we went........bout 5 years ago. Haven't been back since, but it was good times.

Still brings up a good memory of myself pissing in a beer can and throwing it out the window at 70 mph on I-29........little was I aware the the back seat person had 'her' window down also.................all my piss flew in the back seat. (if I would've known that was gonna happen, I would've just ****** on everyone back there in the first place instead of trying to piss in that damn can!!! ) pretty gross tho, I think I felt bad??


----------



## bandman (Feb 13, 2006)

:rollin: :rollin: uke:


----------



## Norm70 (Aug 26, 2005)

Ahhh the barn dances, so many women and only one of me :lol:

I know i have pics from a dance in 2001 or something like that. Especially being a fat guy with a shirt that said i beat anorexia. that pic taking lady was all over that one. I wish i knew what dates i would take a look back. :beer:


----------



## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

> Especially being a fat guy with a shirt that said i beat anorexia.


Damn, Field Hunter, I knew we should have patented that t-shirt for you and Lars!!!!! AT least they don't know what the back is upposed to say!!!


----------

