Historical Note
Jerry Marrion begain working three nights a week at the Arkota Ballroom in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1969. During Marrion’s time, Wednesday nights featured polka, waltzs, and other traditional dances; Friday was rock and roll; and Saturday was big band (mostly local talent). The large, wooden-floored dance hall, which was built in the early 1920s by Thomas H. Archer, saw many of the touring big bands of those years except for Glenn Miller. As was custom, the venue received publicity photographs of the touring acts, some of which the artists signed. The Arkota's collection of these photographs was being disposed of as the ballroom was sold to the El Riad Shriners in 1980, but Marrion saved and kept them for more than forty years.