Experience the Miners Ball: A Unique Cultural Celebration in Platteville, Wisconsin

The Friends of The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums invite all to get into the Valentine’s Day spirit early by registering for the Miners Ball, which will take place Saturday, February 15, 2025. Go back in time, dress to the nines, and join this Platteville tradition full of food, cocktails, and big band music to dance to!

The Miners Ball began with the glitz and glamour of the roaring twenties in 1926 in a time when galas like this were the height of social events and quickly rose to prominence among college students in Platteville, who attracted headlining bands from Chicago such as Lawrence Welk and Perry Como. The Miners Ball was so big that, after World War II, it was held the same night that the giant “M” on the Platte Mound would be illuminated with torches, after having been whitewashed on the Thursday before. Tickets were difficult to come by, and fun-loving engineering students would outdo one another over the generations with designs for ever-more elaborate crystal or mirrored balls to ornament the hall. Now once a year we bring that magic back for a spectacular fundraising gala benefiting Friends of The Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums.

Historically held during Homecoming for an invited few, but now timed around Valentine’s Day and open for all to enjoy, this romantic event is held in February for the perfect enchanting Valentine’s date. Area residents, students, staff, and alumni can come to reconnect with Driftless Area arts, and culture while benefitting the Museum — which serves as institutional memory for the identity that made Wisconsin the Badger State, and gave Platteville the world’s largest letter “M.”

The music will be provided by the Ken Kilian Classic Big Band orchestra — a true Big Band with five saxophones, six to eight brass, a full rhythm section, and a featured vocalist. This remarkable group delivers the fullness and swinging sound that the music of the Big Band era so rightfully deserves. A cash bar and multi-course banquet will be offered by UW-Platteville Catering Services. Besides food, drink, and music, part of the fun of the evening is bidding on dozens of wonderful items in the silent auction.

The Ball will be held at Robert I. Velzy Commons, UW-Platteville’s premier multipurpose banqueting facility, in Ullsvik Hall. The event begins with a social at 5 p.m., followed by dinner at 6 p.m. and the dance at 7 p.m. Tickets are $60 each for the dinner and dance, or $15 for the dance only. A table of eight may be reserved for $500. Reservations may be made online at www.mining.jamison.museum/programs or by phone at (608) 348-3301.

For menu information, photos, sponsorship opportunities, and other information visit www.mining.jamison.museum/minersball.

Order of Events: 5 p.m. Social Hour 6 p.m. Elegant Dinner Buffet 7 p.m. Dance & Auction

Please contact the museum at (608) 348-3301 or museums@platteville.org if you have any dietary restrictions (i.e., vegetarian, gluten-free).