The Val Air roars back to life as its own main attraction
A festive open house bodes well for the historic ballroom's future.
People flocked onto the polished maple-wood dancefloor wearing sneakers, sandals, loafers, flip-flops, cowboy boots, platform heels, work boots, high-top Nikes. More than one person shuffled behind a walker while weaving through the throng of hundreds.
I was among a relative handful who clacked inside the Val Air Ballroom in West Des Moines clad in a pair of bicycle shoes. It was hard to resist pedaling on a freakishly balmy February day with temps in the 60s.
The 85-year-old Val Air, one of the metro’s most historic and beloved community hubs, celebrated its $15 million rebirth Sunday with a free open house. I was a little surprised to discover such a festive scene where the main attraction was the brick and mortar itself. Classic cars were lined up outside to show off their glossy paint in the bright sunshine, while a continuous jam entertained indoors on the main stage.
Trish Toma caught my attention because she roamed the ballroom while clutching—more like embracing—a black-and-white framed photo. The photo turned out to be a 60-year-old portrait of her father, Jim Toma. She had grabbed it off the wall of her Urbandale home on the way out the door.
It was the closest she could come to sharing the experience with her late father.
“My dad passed away in 2019, and I’m a daddy’s girl,” Toma said when I asked about bringing the photo of a young Jim shown with a carefree grin and a thick head of slicked-back hair. “I miss my dad.”
Jim was “a hell of a dancer,” said his daughter. Like many among his postwar generation, Jim attended ballroom dances nearly every week. During his sophomore year in high school, circa 1959, he even won a contest for best male dancer. Jim went on to graduate from Dowling in 1961 and spend decades as a homicide detective in Des Moines.
That’s the thing about the Val Air: This ballroom always has welcomed a broader sweep of daily life and family milestones compared to your average modern concert hall. For every Bob Dylan or Snoop Dog who has taken the stage, this dancefloor has creaked beneath countless graduation parties, class reunions, and civic functions. The local Hispanic community found a welcome home here for all kinds of events. Toma said she used to chauffeur her son to the ballroom to attend numerous heavy metal shows.
If you want to learn more: I wrote about the Val Air’s history, from the era of founder Tom Archer to that of new owner Sam Summers, in a recent article for dsm Magazine.
Sunday’s open house also featured local musician Jon Locker’s quirky world-record performance: He strummed his bass through 81 guitar amplifiers at once. I didn’t catch the feat but marveled at the massive stacks of amps at the side of the dancefloor where the original smaller stage is situated.
Shortly after 2 p.m., a band fired up a cover of Tom Petty’s “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” and a couple two-stepped and twirled their way across the floor.
I thought of Jim Toma jitterbugging his way around the same floor during the Eisenhower administration. The geopolitical and technological landscape outside these walls may have transformed beyond anybody’s imagination in 1959, but the word “dancing” still hangs in neon above the entrance to welcome everybody inside to share in a common beat and sense of community.
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