Club History

About Us:

In 1991, a group of people living in the Tri-Cities area of NE Tennessee decided to loosely form a shag dance club.  In late 1992, the club was officially organized as  "Mountain Empire Shag Society".  We soon became known as MESS because of the first letter in each word of the club name.

We danced at the same location on Monday nights from 1992 until 2021 when we changed venues.  Very few clubs have ever retained a venue that long.  The club began with around 40 members and currently has over 140 members.  

In 1996, MESS became a regular member of the Association of Carolina Shag Clubs.  On November 5, 2019, MESS became a Federal Non-profit 501 (c) (7) corporation, and we officially changed our name to "Mountain Empire Shag Society, Inc".

We are well known in the Shag world for our friendliness and our annual "Fall Bash" party.  The "Fall Bash" party is a 2-day event held in October of each year and always sells out fast.

We currently dance every Monday night except holidays with music starting at 7:00 pm by our club DJs Larry "Bigfish" Calhoun and Rick Million.  We offer free basic shag lessons away from the main dance floor between 7:30 pm and 8:00 pm.  A typical Monday night will have 50 to 60 people in attendance and things tend to wind down around 9:00 pm.

We'd love to dance with you!