Teen club and its members prosper in PTC

By PAT NEWMAN
pnewman@thecitizennews.com

More local parents and teens probably know about The Market, the short-lived Fayetteville teen club and its booty-dancing claim to fame, than Peachtree City’s Jitterbuggers, the unassuming club founded by parent and local activist Richard Thompson, and its celebrated swing dancers.

In little more than a year, Jitterbuggers has enlisted more than 300 members, welcomed 9,000 entries through its double doors at Tivoli Place, and was awarded the United Way Business Community enhancement award of $1,329, recognition for “bringing the community closer together.”

The club’s biggest claim to fame is its swing dance team, which will lead off this year’s Egleston Christmas Parade in Atlanta.

Thompson said 20 couples from local high schools representing Jitterbuggers were selected by the parade committee to participate in the December extravaganza. A group participated in last year’s parade and continues to compete in metro swing dance events.

They will team up with another dance group affiliated with a Roswell church to trip the light fantastic down Peachtree Street. “The boys will be dressed in tuxedos and the girls will wear green gowns,” Thompson said.

Jitterbuggers’ founding father is proud of his kids and continues to support their efforts and talents in the dance arena and band pit as well.

Last Saturday, Thompson moved his weekend venue to the Fayette Family YMCA pavilion, where 12 bands played before an audience which peaked at 400 around 9 p.m. “Things went really, really well... all 12 bands were outstanding,” he reported Monday. “They proved they could rock with the best of them.”

The emergence of Jitterbuggers as a low-key place for local musicians to perform, and for middle and high school aged kids to gather, came in June 1999. Thompson, a father of three who served as a member for the Peachtree City Commission on Children and Youth in the early ‘90s, heard the cry of “We don’t have a place to go” from local teens and decided to remedy the situation.

Housed in a 1,800-sq. ft. portion of office park just off Steven’s Entry, Jitterbuggers was launched with the help of paint brush-wielding teens and supportive adults spurred on by Thompson’s enthusiasm.

According to Thompson, the success of Jitterbuggers has gained attention of other communities around the country seeking safe entertainment havens for their young people, via its web site, http://www.ptconline.org/jitterbuggers. Thompson said he has responded to queries from Texas, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Hawaii.

“The one thing I tell them, you have to start from ground zero,” he said. Appealing to kids typically aged 14 to 18, the club on a “band night” might attract several hundred. Quieter evenings draw fewer members and guests to the game room, canned music and TV.

On a recent Saturday night, manager Sam Caswell was in charge. A sophomore at Georgia Institute of Technology, Caswell, refers to Jitterbuggers as a “community club” that provides teens an alternative to “sitting in the Kroger parking lot,” or having to drive into “the city” for entertainment.

Jitterbuggers is a not-for-profit company which charges $25 for an annual membership. With that membership comes the responsibility of signing and adhering to the club’s bylaws and dress code.

Unacceptable behavior, which includes fighting, vandalism, violence, use or possession of weapons, obscenities, inappropriate public displays of affection, tobacco use, possession and consumption of drugs and alcohol and loitering in off-limits areas, results in disciplinary action.

A dress code requires members and guests to wear shoes (unless removed for dancing) and appropriate undergarments, which should not show. Clothing that represents alcohol, drugs, tobacco or suggestive language is not allowed.
While Thompson admits “Things have never been perfect,” he added, “We’ve never had alcohol problems... “ or any incidents which could endanger the safety of those in attendance.

He said The Market basically appealed to the high-energy hip-hop crowd and tried to “go big” right away. Thompson said The Market’s closing did raise some questions about Jitterbuggers as well. “Quite a few kids came over the night they closed,” he noted.

Censoring lyrics is not beyond Thompson and, at an earlier multiband event, he deemed some dialogue to be inappropriate, he said, especially at the YMCA. “Remember where you are,” he recalled telling the band.

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