#Crackers December 2
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Throughout December 2024, several of us are taking part in the 30-Day PPT Coach4aday Challenge. PPT is an acronym for People Places or Things. Each day we share our insights, thoughts, or memories about a person (living or dead), a place (we have visited or learned about) or a thing that intrigues us. Today I am going to write about a night club called CRACKERS.
Crackers was a nightclub in Rockingham, NC, located on Airport Road. Two things about it are certain: it no longer exists, and I never went there.
Despite that, it had an incredible impact on my life. On January 4, 1980, my wife at the time, Mira Gibson, and her friend Patti Sue Baggette decided to skip their plans to go to Crackers and headed to Southern Pines instead.
Patti Sue shown below in the middle.
That decision led me to meet Mira at another now-defunct nightclub off of US 1 in Southern Pines NC, called the Crash Landing.
People, Places, & Things 30-Day Challenge Guidelines
Like previous challenges there are no hard and fast rules to participate. There are a few suggested guidelines
- Each day in December 2024 write about a Person, Place or Thing-PPT
- Share at least one fact, memory, or quality about your subject choice.
- If so inclined use the hash tag #Coach4adayChallenge on social media platforms
December 2nd-Crackers
My wife and her friend made a pretty significant choice on that cold Friday January night in 1980 because Cracker’s was some type of sensational night club in North Carolina. The owner of Crackers was Earl Howard “Booty” Pate, III, and he was remembered at the time of his death in August 2010 as a legend in the disco dance halls. He opened it in 1978, and it became one of the longest surviving dance attractions on the southeast coast. The business operated for 14 years until it closed in the year 1992. It even was the first home to the Sandhills Shag Club. Pate was an accountant and earned a master’s degree from University of South Carolina.
Each night Crackers closed with “The Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time” or most famously “Last Dance”, by Donna Summer. Some of the bands and famous singing artist that played at Crackers were: Mother’s Finest, Hank Williams, Jr., Percy Sledge, Four Tops, Lee Greenwood, Nantucket, Wet Willie, Dr. Hook, Earl Thomas Connelly, David Allen Coe, and many others.
Booty Pate created memories for a lot of teenagers and well as young adults enjoying a night out at Crackers in a safe environment dancing the shag, disco, etc. to famous music. It was once said that the reason for the long running life of Crackers was due to its owners. Booty and his wife Trudy respected their customers, carried the heavy burden of caring for each and every one the children that were out on the town, made it their responsibility to see that each and every one of them made it home safely, and taught them a few of life’s valuable lessons along the way. The customers respected Booty and Trudy, a key ingredient to guarantee success for any business.
I hope Booty Pate (RIP) will forgive Patti Sue and Mira for that cold night in January 1980 when they choose to go to Crash Landing instead of Cracker’s. That choice made all the difference in my life
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