In 1938, Lucile met her sweetheart, Ora, at the Brown Derby Dance Hall in Parowan. Lucile explained, “The Derby was quite a place in its day. There was a dance there every Saturday night,” Lucile chuckled as she reminisced about the Saturday night she met Ora.

The Brown Derby Dance Hall was Southern Utah's gathering place for young people from Milford, Beaver, Cedar, and Paragonah. On that particular Saturday night in 1938, Ora Hofheins stood at the dance hall doorway with his buddies and proclaimed he could get any girl in the place to let him “see her home.” He was promptly taken up on the bet and the odds were on Lucile Evans. But when the music ended, Lucile was nowhere to be found. Apparently, she had learned that Ora was a 'ladie's man' and had already seen several girls home that same night.

Despite the loss of a bet, Ora was a determined man. He continued his pursuit of Lucile, keeping the road hot between Beaver and Parowan, until the couple was married September 20, 1939. Ora and Lucile’s romance is just one of hundreds whose seeds were planted at the Brown Derby.

The history of the dance halls across Utah's southwest terrain has its own beat in time. From open air to indoors venues, those making their way across the rugged mountains and dry deserts found an escape while on the dance floor. …show more content…
Although Cotton Mission pioneers did little or no dancing while making their trek from Salt Lake City to the St. George Valley, the first social event was a dance held in the big Sibley tent owned by Asa Calkins that December night. Oswald Barlow and his orchestra filled the air with their music. Many of the younger folk were not invited into the tent, but that didn't stop them from peeking underneath to watch the couples, bow, balance, and promenade. Eleven year old Brigham Jarvis recorded Angus M. Cannon and Ann Amanda as the first couple to take the dance floor, noting how grand they looked dancing