Happy 40th

EDITORIAL

This holiday season represented the 40th anniversary so ingrained in our life as a community many of us may have to pause for a beat to realize it hasn’t always been here.

But the truth is that the KC (Knights of Columbus) Hall first opened its doors to the public almost exactly 40 years ago.

It all started in the late 1970s when the newly-organized KCs, realizing Rockdale’s need for a really big indoor gathering place ambitiously started a project to build exactly that.

At that time Rockdale’s largest indoor venue was the high school auditorium. It was a great place, and still is, but there are limitations. For instance, there’s not room to dance and since it is in a school the range of events which could be held there are considerably restricted and rightly so.

So those KCs thought big. They envisioned a 14,500-square-foot structure with a 60- foot by 90-foor dance floor, a stage, fully-equipped kitchen and a small meeting room capable of seating about 130.

They did more than think. The mammoth project was completed in May, 1979, and was almost complete by the Christmas season. Even though some finishing touches were still being added it began hosting events.

Its first event was an Alcoa Political Action Committee (PAC) gathering, followed by the Alcoa Christmas Party and a teen disco dance.

(Hey, it was the 1970s.)

But when 950 people showed up for the Dec. 31, 1979 New Year’s Dance the KC Hall ascended to the position in the life of Rockdale it has never relinquished.

The KC Hall has been the site of the following—and this is an incomplete list:

Fish fries, Mayfests, game nights, wedding receptions, the two largest funerals probably in the history of Rockdale.

Chamber of Commerce banquets, senior citizen “expos,” Father-Daughter Valentine Dances, annual Police Department-Rockdale Volunteer Fire Department Banquets.

You almost certainly can add your own events to this list. And don’t forget how faithfully the KCs have maintained it over the years.

A couple of special mentions. A couple of times, prior to construction of the new RHS Gym, the KC Hall was the site for Rockdale High School graduations when bad weather threatened Tiger Field or when the field was unavailable as the new Tiger Stadium was under construction.

And Christmas Roundup would be almost unimaginable without the KC Hall to use for sacking or sorting.

Even the spacious KC parking lot has been the site for surplus food distributions and medical helicopter landings/transfer points.

Far too many KC’s worked on this project to try and name them all. But one especially deserves mention. The late Ike Korenek was essentially the “father of the KC Hall.”

What a great blessing it has been to our community. Happy 40th. And thanks KCs.—M.B.