The Tumbleweed Ballroom was a vision for Mr. and Mrs. Jack Hesser, R.A. Lospeich, and John and Linda Klinger in 1981. They purchased ten acres of land from Benny Bradley in the northwest part of Stillwater and started their creation. Tumbleweed Ballroom officially opened the doors for business in October 1981. (This is the same year the Billy Bob’s of Texas in Ft. Worth opened their doors.) The next four years showed continued success and growth in dance hall business for their operation. The dance hall became an initial home for the local and upcoming talent in the area, Garth Brooks. While in Stillwater, Garth was employed by the Klingers, as a bouncer and entertained the crowds on his nights off. It was during this period that Garth was working at Tumbleweed that he met the love of his life, Sandy. He had to, unfortunately, throw her out of the club that night because she had been involved in a fight with another girl in the bathroom. A story in which Sandy ended up putting her hand through the wall. As he has stated in numerous interviews, he was asking her for her number and address to take her out while having to escort her off the premise. Garth and Sandy have since divorce, but remain close while raising their daughters. Other acts have their beginnings at the Tumbleweed. Over the years, the Great Divide Band, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Stonehorse, and other local bands have built their performances based upon the experiences at the Tumbleweed. Some have made it to the point of obtaining national recording deals and others have lost their career momentum. But, each case, the Tumbleweed remained a breeding ground for up and coming talent. In 1985, the state liquor laws changed and put a hardship on the ballroom and club operators in the state. The Klingers put in a steakhouse to help comply with the law changes. The next two years presented struggles with the changing drinking laws and with the decrease in popularity of country music. The Klingers decided it was time for them to get out of the club business, and in 1987, Tumbleweed was purchased by Hank Moore and Sherry Perrin. The Tumbleweed would eventually take on a totally new role and presence in the dance hall business of Oklahoma. Tumbleweed held a special place in the new owners’ hearts as they had their first date there and practiced their dance routines on a regular basis for competitions. But as they dove into the business aspect of the club, their dancing time slowly dwindled. They have through the course of the first ten years of their ownership, expanded the club a piece at a time. The dance hall property now spans over 65 acres and has an outdoor rodeo and a concert arena. The rodeo arena has a capacity of 3,000 people on a grassy hill overlooking a private pond. The concert arena has a capacity of 8,000 people with both reserve seats and general admission available to most shows. Both arenas are capped with an 85’ flagpole that flies the largest flag in this part of Oklahoma. When the large American flag is flying above the Tumbleweed, you can be assured that an outdoor is event is happening. The Moore’s transformed the Steakhouse restaurant and replaced it with a high-energy rock dance club named “Tremors”. Both clubs have floating wooden dance floors and both enjoy the playing of top 40 hits, as well as older hits. Affordable drink prices as always been a draw for customers. There are drink specials on most nights that the dance halls are open. They may range from weekly frozen drink prices, any coin beer, to 2:1 longnecks. All specials are in compliance with the laws of Oklahoma. But, also remain below market prices in Oklahoma City and Tulsa areas. There are also twenty-seven pool tables throughout the facility as well as shuffleboard and foosball to entertain those not wishing to scoot-a-boot over the dance floors. The most important thing you will experience at Tumbleweed Dance Halls and Concert Arena is the friendly, down-home friendly staff. Their goal is to make each of your visits at the Tumbleweed an enjoyable one. With Stillwater being the home of the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Oklahoma State University, Tumbleweed caters primarily to the young student crowd but provides entertainment that appeals to all ages. Over the years since 1987, the Tumbleweed has become a venue for top recording country stars and expanded their entertainment roster to include rock and alternative groups such as Vanilla Ice, Eve Six, Jackyl, and Third Eye Blind. Some of the major country stars to perform at the “Weed” have been Hank Williams Jr, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks, Sawyer Brown, Kathy Mattea, Travis Tritt, Keith Whitley, Lorrie Morgan, Joe Diffee, Tracy Lawrence, Tracy Byrd, Wade Hayes, Rick Trevino, the Bellamy Brothers, Chris LeDoux, Neal McCoy, Mark Chestnutt, John Berry, Rhett Akins, the legendary George Jones, John Micheal Montgomery, David Ball, Terri Clark, and Rodney Carrington.. Twelve years ago, Tumbleweed had its first calf fry. Since that time, this event has grown to be the major event of the year. The event has evolved into two evenings of quality entertainment, including bullriding. Chris LeDoux had been a major force of this growth over the years by performing each year. The 6th Annual Calf Fry in 1997 served over 3,000 calf fry meals and entertained over 8,000 people. The 9th Annual Calf Fry went to a three-day event and hosted Lori Morgan in concert on Saturday with bullriding, the famous calf fry meal and Chris LeDoux in concert on Sunday with the attendance of 10,000 over the three-day event. Now, the event routinely hosts at least 7 artists over the two nights with attendance hovering around 10,000 people for the event. More recently, there have been other food events that are building momentum. The annual Fish Fry in June and the annual Bar-b-que in September are examples where the Tumbleweed has successfully mixed food events with country music concerts.