In late August of 1964, it became apparent to some area businessmen that there was money to be made by catering to the teenage rock and roll scene. The onset of Beatlemania, and the popular British Invasion groups that followed, had inspired the formation of young bands all across the state. The impact of this was clearly shown during the summer months of 1964 at the Battle of the Bands competitions held at the Roll-Air outdoor skating rink on State Park Drive in Bay City.
Roll-Air was owned and operated by four area educators, Bob and Ilene Darbee and Octavian and Christine Gavrila. In early 1964, they had been contacted by WKNX-AM deejays, Bob Dyer and Dick Fabian, about the possibility of running a combination dance/Battle of the Bands on Tuesday nights during the summer.
Teens lined up outside Roll-Air
The idea turned out to be a smashing success. With the help of a good deal of on-air advertisement from Dyer and Fabian on WKNX, the weekly band competitions at the 700 ft. x 206 ft. cement outdoor skating rink quickly became the "in place" for young people every Tuesday evening.
The Darbees and Gavrilas reported to the Bay City Times that 16,000 teens had attended the eight competitions that had featured twenty different bands competing for the $1,000 in prize money in the finals. The prize breakdown was: 1st place - $600, 2nd place - $250, and 3rd place - $150. Bay City's Del Raes, one of the area's finest bands at this point, won the very first Battle of the Bands at Roll-Air.
It didn't take long for some enterprising individuals to see the possibilities. If Roll-Air could do that much business on just eight dates, it would seem that a year-round facility, targeting the teen music scene and featuring live bands, could turn a healthy profit.
Band Canyon front view
One of the early steps in this direction was taken by Bay City businessman Willard "Bill" Kehoe when he and his partner, Gary Rivet, opened a new business called Delta Promotions. The company's plan was to manage some of the better young bands and book them at the various dances and teen clubs in the Tri-Cities area.
Kehoe also joined with other businessmen to form an organization called the Euclid Development Corporation. In a February 8, 1965, article in the Bay City Times, spokesman A. J. LaMarre stated that a nightclub for young adults, 16 to 21 years of age, would be built on N. Euclid Avenue near Bay City State Park in the spring.
LaMarre said that the plans were to construct a one-story masonry building with a wood dance floor and an outdoor dancing patio. The opening was scheduled for July 1, 1965, according to LaMarre, and he stated to the Bay City Times that “we feel that this is a need of the community.” He also pointed out that there were 12,000 teenagers in Bay County in 1965, or 7.4% of the total population.
The Euclid Development Corporation pictured a nightclub atmosphere that would be restricted to young adults, and that only soft drinks would be served. LaMarre told the newspaper that floor shows and live music would be furnished, and nationally known entertainers would be brought in periodically. He further stated that the building's inside facilities would accommodate 1,200 people and 2,500 could be handled by using the outdoor dancing patio. He also claimed that the corporation had purchased a parcel of land for the project. 
Teens dancing at Band Canyon
According to the same news article, the building would have a covered entry, game room, snack bar, gossip area, and would be fully air-conditioned. It would also have a paved and lighted parking area for 300 cars. The teen club would be in operation five nights per week during the summer months and three nights a week during the school year.
After the plan to build along N. Euclid Avenue fell through, LaMarre and his partners, Willard Kehoe and William Wesolek, obtained property at 377 S. River Road, located on the southern outskirts of Bay City and moved ahead with a plan that was almost identical to what they had envisioned for N. Euclid.
A contest was held to name the teen nightclub, and the winning entry was Band Canyon. In addition to its rather unusual name, Bay City's newest teen gathering place was unique in another way.
All of the other teen nightclubs in Michigan had been established in previously constructed buildings. They included VFW halls, old movie theaters, wedding halls, armories, and in one case, a former funeral home. Band Canyon, on the other hand, was built from the ground up to be a teen nightclub, complete with a raised stage for the bands and a sunken dance floor. 
Band Canyon's Vegas Room featured pool tables and pinball machines
A number of Bay City businesses were utilized in the project including Gentle Heat, Valley Roofing, Euclid Block, Salzburg Cleaners, Kirchman Brothers, Marion Carpet, and the Consolidated Construction Company. In addition, fire-proof ceiling tiles were installed by Tri City Acoustical, fountain supplies came from Callahan Paper & Supply, and the venue's sound was installed by Dukane Sound Systems of Saginaw.
Former Bay City resident Fred Rice was attending Visitation High School in 1965 and was hired, along with some of his classmates, as part of the Band Canyon construction crew as soon as school was out that summer. Rice remembered that his Visitation coach, Wayne Fontes, worked at the door of Band Canyon that summer to supplement his income. Fontes would soon leave Visitation to coach football in both college and the pros, most notably as the Detroit Lions' head coach from 1988 through 1996.
In a phone interview, Rice recalled that Band Canyon's Visitation connection came both from A. J. LaMarre, who was a brother of Father LaMarre pastor of Visitation Catholic Church, and William Wesolek who was a parish member and also sent his children to school there.
The owners met their original goal of opening Band Canyon by July 1, 1965. The first night, however, was a Wednesday night "sneak preview" on June 30th for area adults to see and enjoy the club's facilities, as well as allay any fears parents might have about their teenaged sons and daughters enjoying a night filled with rock and roll and the opposite sex. 
Band Canyon's sunken dance floor
The Bay City Times covered the sneak preview the following day, and the paper gushed about Band Canyon's sunken dance floor surrounded by tables where teens could enjoy chips, pretzels, soft drinks, and "coketails" purchased from the snack bar. The article went on to describe the recreation room, equipped with five pool tables and 20 pinball machines, and the venue's gossip room, covered with large floor pillows and featuring tables reminiscent of "off-beat" coffee houses.
Band Canyon charged admission rather than trying to use membership cards. Security was provided by three adults inside the club and two additional adults in the parking lot. The teen club was pretty liberal in terms of dress, permitting just about anything except short-shorts. The idea was to just have a good time without causing any trouble. According to the reporter, "The vibe of the club was best expressed by the sign you saw as you left the parking lot: Drive Carefully – Save Dad's Car."
Bay City Times' Grand Opening ad
Buoyed by the Bay City Times article and a full-page ad that featured photos inside the club, the real opening was on Friday, July 2nd from 8:30 to 12:30 and featured two shows by nationally known singing star Freddy Cannon. Cannon also appeared for two shows on Saturday, July 3rd.
Freddy Cannon had placed 20 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 during the past six years, including Top 10 hits with "Tallahassee Lassie", "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans", and "Palisades Park" on Swan Records out of Philadelphia. Cannon was backed by The Vibrations, a teen band from Bay City, for his shows at Band Canyon.
Band Canyon advertised regularly in the Bay City Times during its first 18 months of operation. As promised, the venue presented other national artists in the coming months. The advertisements in the newspaper show that The Byrds, Bobby Goldsboro, Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs, Del Shannon, and Brian Hyland all performed at the teen club in either 1965 or 1966. Maybe even more interesting is the listing of the many young, mostly forgotten, bands that had an opportunity to get up on stage in front of their peers and show what they could do. Band Canyon provided that opportunity.
The following is the Band Canyon schedule from July of 1965 through December 1966, taken from the weekly ads in the Bay City Times.
Band Canyon 1965
July 2: Freddy Cannon and The Vibrations. (Cannon had a # 16 hit with "Abigail Beecher" in early 1964. His next charting single, "Action", would be released a month after he appeared at Band Canyon.)
July 3: Freddy Cannon and The Vibrations
July 9: Jay Walker and The Pedestrians
July 10: Jay Walker and The Pedestrians
July 11: Jay Walker and The Pedestrians
July 14: Marc Allen with The Vibrations 
July 22: The Byrds. (The Byrds had a # 1 hit with "Mr. Tambourine Man" during the summer and their newest single, "All I Really Want To Do", debuted on the Hot 100 two weeks before their appearance at Band Canyon.)
July 28: The Rhythm Aires
July 30: The King Bees
July 31: The Epics
Aug. 1: The Bossmen
Aug. 6: The Cord-Aires
Aug. 7: The Marauders
Aug. 8: The Cord-Aires
Aug. 13: The Cord-Aires
Aug. 14: The Wanderers
Aug. 15: The Epics
Aug. 16: The Fashions A-Go-Go Style Show
Aug. 18: Shawn and The Tribesmen
Aug. 20: The Lindells
Aug. 21: The Rogues
Aug. 22: The Rogues
Aug. 23: The Del Raes
Aug. 25: The Mirage Finders
Aug. 27: The Rogues 
Aug. 28: Shindig Show (Gene McKay – "Clark Recording Star", Charlene - "The Sweetheart of Song", Jim & Jan – "Dance Champions", The Ebb Tides – "Clark Recording Stars")
Aug. 29: Shindig Show (Gene McKay, Charlene, Jim & Jan, The Ebb Tides)
Sept. 1: The Unchangeable Times
Sept. 3: E.J. and The Echoes
Sept. 4: (afternoon) Band Canyon Weirdos
Sept. 4: (evening) The Epics
Sept. 5: The Del Raes
Sept. 10: E.J. and The Echoes
Sept. 11: The Mustangs
Sept. 12: The Del Raes
Sept. 14: The Bossmen
Sept. 17: The Wanderers
Sept. 18: The Vibrations
Sept. 19: The Del Raes
Sept. 21: The Capris
Sept. 24: E. J. and The Echoes
Sept. 25: Bobby Goldsboro accompanied by The Del Raes. (Bobby Goldsboro was touring behind his hit single, "Voodoo Woman", which had reached # 27 on the Hot 100 that summer.)
Sept. 26: The Accents
Sept. 28: The Epics
Oct. 1: The Del Raes
Oct. 2: E. J. and The Echoes 
Oct. 3: The Lindells
Oct. 8: The Del Raes
Oct. 9: The Vibrations
Oct. 10: The Accents
Oct. 15: The Del Raes
Oct. 16: The Del Raes
Oct. 17: The Epics
Oct. 22: The Del Raes
Oct. 23: The Epics
Oct. 24: The Marauders
Oct. 31: The Jayhawkers
Nov. 5: The Epics
Nov. 6: E. J. and The Echoes
Nov. 12: The Epics
Nov. 13: Bobby and The Quintels 
Nov. 14: The Mustangs
Nov. 19: The Falkons
Nov. 20: The Invaders
Nov. 25: The Del Raes
Nov. 26: The Epics
Nov. 27: ? and The Mysterians
Dec. 3: The Invaders
Dec. 4: The Epics
Dec. 10: The Epics
Dec. 11: Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs, The Del Raes. (Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs were touring behind their latest Top 40 single, "Ring Dang Doo".)
Dec. 17: The Epics
Dec. 18: The Lindells
Dec. 22: The Satisfactions
Dec. 23: The Wanderers
Dec. 25: The Epics (Christmas Dance)
Dec. 28: The Mustangs
Dec. 30: E.J. and The Echoes
Dec. 31: The Del Raes (New Year's Eve Party)
Band Canyon 1966
Jan. 1: The Town Criers
Jan. 7: The Del Raes
Jan. 8: The Fugitives
Jan. 14: The Invaders
Jan. 15: The Tempests
Jan. 20: ? and The Mysterians. (? And The Mysterians would record "96 Tears" at the Art Schiell Studio in Bay City in April.)
Jan. 21: The Town Criers
Jan. 22: E. J. and The Echoes
Jan. 28: The Del Raes
Jan. 29: E. J. and The Echoes
Feb. 4: The Sundowners (Grand Rapids)
Feb. 5: The Trespassers (Sat. afternoon 1:00 – 5:00 for ages 13 – 15)
Feb. 5: The Sundowners
Feb. 11: The Invaders
Feb. 12: The Trespassers (Sat. afternoon for ages 13 – 15)
Feb. 12: The Invaders
Feb. 18: Bed Of Roses
Feb. 19: The Rainmakers (Traverse City)
Feb. 25: The Epics
Feb. 26: Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs, E. J. and The Echoes. (Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs' newest single, "Red Hot", debuted on the Hot 100 on Feb. 5th)
Mar. 4: The Debutantes (Detroit)
Mar. 5: The Debutantes
Mar. 11: The Kingbees (formerly The Fugitive Four from Grand Rapids)
Mar. 12: The Chancellors (Lansing)
Mar. 18: The Sundowners
Mar. 19: The Epics
Mar. 25: The Invaders 
Mar. 26: The Epics
Apr. 1: The Epics
Apr. 2: The Lindells
Apr. 8: Bed Of Roses
Apr. 9: The Epics
Apr. 13: The Shepherds (formerly the Del Raes)
Apr. 22: The Debutantes
Apr. 23: The Debutantes
Apr. 29: The Epics (20 pairs of White Levis to be given away by DJ/host Dick Fabian)
Apr. 30: The Shepherds
May 6: The Big Rocks (Dick Fabian, again, gives away 20 pairs of White Levis)
May 7: The Missing Links
May 13: E. J. and The Echoes
May 14: The Lindells
May 20: The Epics
May 21: The Morgues
May 27: Bed Of Roses
May 28: E. J. and The Echoes
May 29: The Shepherds (Honda 50 giveaway from Linwood Cycle Sales) 
June 3: The Rainmakers
June 4: The Jayhawkers
June 10: The Invaders
June 11: The Illusions
June 17: The Lindells
June 18: The Missing Links
June 19: The Epics
June 22: (College Night all ages) Roy Tyseen and His Royal Teens, The Dynamics with Little Miss Jean
June 28: Bed Of Roses
June 30: The Intruders
July 1: The Ides Of March
July 2: Freddy Cannon along with The Nomads (Miami) 1st Anniversary Show
July 3: Freddy Cannon with The Nomads
July 7: The Intruders
July 8: Bed Of Roses
July 9: (College Night) Five Of A Kind (from Central Michigan University)
July 10: The Epics
July 13: Five Of A Kind
July 15: The Shepherds
July 16: The Jayhawkers
July 17: The Intruders
July 20: (College Night) The Intruders
July 21: The Epics
July 22: Five Of A Kind
July 23: The Conclusions
July 24: ? and The Mysterians. ("96 Tears" was a big hit in the Tri-Cities on the tiny Pa-Go-Go label during the summer of 1966. It would not reach the Billboard Hot 100 until September after it had been leased by Cameo Records and distributed nationally. "96 Tears" would reach # 1 on October 29, 1966.) 
July 27: (College Night) The Invaders
July 28: The Bushmen
July 29: The Nomads
July 30: Bobby Rigg and The Chevelles
July 31: The Lovelorns
Aug. 4: The Prodigal Sons
Aug. 5: The Satisfactions with Lonnie Walker from Broadway
Aug. 6: The Mastertones (Detroit)
Aug. 7: The Mastertones
Aug. 11: Goldie and The Gingerbreads
Aug. 12: The Debutantes
Aug. 13: The Debutantes
Aug. 14: The Blues Banned 
Aug. 18: The Excels
Aug. 19: Panic and The Paak
Aug. 20: The Shepherds
Aug. 25: The Intruders
Aug. 26: The Uniques (Detroit)
Aug. 27: The Shepherds
Sept. 1: The Epics
Sept. 2: The D'Fenders
Sept 3: The Uniques
Sept. 4: E. J. and The Echoes
Sept. 9: The Bonnevilles
Sept. 10: The Invaders
Sept. 11: Brian Hyland and The Jokers ("The Joker Went Wild" had reached # 1 on the WKNX Big 10 Survey on August 13, 1966; it peaked at # 20 on Billboard's Hot 100.)
Sept. 16: The House Of Commons (Detroit)
Sept. 17: The Debutantes
Sept. 23: The Tribe
Sept. 24: The Landeers 
Sept. 30: Del Shannon with The House Of Commons. (Del Shannon had released "The Big Hurt" in the spring of 1966. It would only reach # 94 on the Hot 100, and it would prove to be Shannon's final charting single of the 1960s.)
Oct. 1: Five Of A Kind
Oct. 7: The Rainmakers
Oct. 8: The Jesters
Oct. 28: The Blues Banned
Oct. 29: The Mastertones
Nov. 4: Count and The Colony
Nov. 5: The Chancellors
Nov. 11: The Prodigal Sons
Nov. 12: The Intruders
Nov. 18: The Morgues
Nov. 19: The Vibrations
Nov. 20 to Dec. 22 – No Band Canyon ads in the Bay City Times
Dec. 23: The In's Men (Christmas Party with gifts for everyone)
Dec. 24: The Satisfactions 
The Chancellors at Band Canyon
Dec. 26: The Intruders
Band Canyon 1967 (Incomplete)
March 3: The Debutantes
March 4: Count & The Colony
March 10: Section V
March 11: The Chancellors
March 17: The Blues Banned
March 18: The Intruders
March 24: (To Be Announced)
March 25: The Daybreaks
April 1: Panic & The Paak
April 7: The Classified Section
April 8: The Intruders
April 14: We Who Are
April 15: Dick Wagner & The Frosts
April 21: December's Children
April 22: The Epics
April 28: The Matter Of Facts
May 5: The Seventh Court
May 6: The Kwintels
May 12: The Talismen
May 13: The Epics
May 19: The Morgues
May 20: The Classified Section
May 26: The Karavans
May 27: The Sound Garden
July 1: Plain Brown Wrapper
July 2: The Nomads
July 3: The Poor Souls
July 5: The Nomads
July 7: Panic & The Paak 
The Chancellors
July 8: The Esquires
July 12: The Seventh Court
July 14: The Karavans
July 15: K.J. Knight & The Knight Riders and The Debutantes
July 19: (To Be Announced)
July 21: The Innsmen
July 22: The Chancellors
July 26: (To Be Announced)
July 28: The Phogg
July 29: The Taxi
