club history

In early 1993, a few people who were taking dance lessons at the Fred Astaire studio in Fayetteville decided they would like to see a social ballroom dance club in town. They wanted to have some opportunities to use the steps they were learning in their lessons.

The Original Twelve members met at the Green Valley Country Club and went to work electing officers and making plans. On March 21, 1993, they held their first dance in the ballroom of the Prince Charles Hotel in downtown Fayetteville.

Later that year they sponsored a Harvest Ball hoping they could sell 40 tickets. The big September event drew 75 people to the Prince Charles Hotel and the club doubled its membership!

By February 1994, they had formed the Ballroom Dance Society of Fayetteville (known today as the Cape Fear Ballroom Dancers or CFBD). With 59 members, they voted to become a chapter in USABDA, the United States Amateur Ballroom Dancers Association. Then a few years later they dropped the connection with USABDA to keep dues low.

The club's first president, Chuck Wedge, wrote about these early days, and you can read his article titled Humble Beginnings.

Recognizing the contributions of CFBD to Fayetteville and ballroom dancing in general, Fayetteville's Mayor J. L. Dawkins issued an official Proclamation specifying September 18-24, 1994, as Ballroom Dance Week.

Over the years the club has danced at several locations around town. First at the Prince Charles, then the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel, Holiday Inn Bordeaux, Elk's Lodge, and Gates Four Country Club. Today, the club's monthly dances are at Roland's Dance Studio and the quarterly dinner-dances are at the Highland Country Club.

In 1998 the CFBD leadership decided the club should incorporate to enhance the club's legitimacy: Certificate of Incorporation.

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