MATTHEW BURNETTE, Staff Writer

Though a life-sized rooster and a brightly lit sign are an easy way to grab the attention of passersby, Orville and Dorothy Foster understand that the way to keep them coming back is with a welcoming attitude, a live band and an enjoyable atmosphere.

The Fosters opened Country Junction nearly a decade ago off Hwy 41 after over thirty years in the hospitality business.

“We’ve always enjoyed country music, the old stuff,” explained Orville. “We would go to the senior citizen’s when they’d have a gig, and we’d even go to Woodbury when they had their senior citizen’s. We decided since we had this building here that we’d do something with it, so we just decided to remodel it, so to speak, and have it for the line dancers.”

Though many of the regulars do participate in both line dancing and couple’s dancing over the course of a Saturday night, the establishment offers a good amount of seating for those who may not like to dance and prefer to watch or listen to the music.

“We started with just one band, but that fizzled out after a while, and now we reach out to different bands,” Orville recalled. “Since we’ve started reaching out, we probably had over twenty different bands to come through here, but now we’ve sort of sized it down to about six or seven… on a regular basis.”

Some of the regular bands that perform at Country Junction are Rode West, Ramblin’ Fever, Barb Wire, Judy and the Dead Artists Society, and Santa Fe, who have a regular spot at the venue every first Saturday of the month.

Orville says people come from Murfreesboro, Tullahoma, Woodbury, Shelbyville and even as far as Huntsville, Alabama and Ringgold, Georgia to patronize their place.

“They come from everywhere because word gets out and they want to see what it’s all about,” he explained.

The Fosters, who also operate Manchester Antiques, have had many different businesses in the area over the years including 41 South, Absolute Billiards, Tullahoma Billiards, Big Cheese Bar and Grill in Winchester and Murfreesboro Billiards in Murfreesboro.

Their first foray into that industry started after their son graduated from high school.

“To be honest with you, I didn’t go to college and went about two days a week to high school, so I didn’t have no expectations of him even going to college like a chip off the old block,” said Orville. “He said ‘Well I want to get into the game room business.’”

Though both Orville and Dorothy worked other jobs at the time, they helped out where they could and eventually took over the business after their son decided to pursue other ventures.

“We went from a poolroom to a poolroom to a bar to a restaurant. We’ve been around and done several things,” said Orville.

While Orville works hard to make Country Junction operate as smoothly as possible, he give a majority of the credit to Dorothy for making it a success.

“When everybody else was sleeping, she was working. Even I might be taking a nap in the backroom. She was working eighteen hours a day for ain’t no telling how many years,” he says of his wife of sixty-two years this coming July.

“My wife, she’s the one,” he continued. “The meet and greeter, the one that keeps law and order, so to speak, because it is a non-smoking, non-alcohol establishment. Of course, we don’t have any trouble keeping that rule, but that is a rule. If anybody wants to get out of place, she’d be the lady to show them the door.”

“If they act up, I just take them outside,” says Dorothy.

Even though the establishment does have a bar top to sit at, she says they decided to make Country Junction an alcohol and smoke free venue due to the typical demographic of their regulars.

“When we come out here, this was senior people and I thought ‘Well they don’t smoke, so I’m not going to start it’ so I said no alcohol and no smoking,” Dorothy recalled. “So I told Orville we’ll do the best we can, if it turns out good, it’s good. If it don’t, then it’s not meant to be. It turned out real good.”

She says she loves the people and enjoys watching them have a good time. Many of their family members assist in running things on Saturday nights.

The Fosters have met several people through their businesses, many of whom are still regulars at Country Junction like Jerry and Darlene Pendergrast who can also be found helping out on Saturday nights.

“We started dancing, and then we started helping Dorothy and pretty soon I got a key and started cooking hot dogs,” says Jerry, who prepares the food including what Orville says are the best Angus Beef hot dogs. “I like the Country music and all that. We have some good bands.”

Jerry’s wife Darlene takes up a cover at the front door and also teaches some line dance steps to patrons who are starting out dancing. The Pendergrasts first met the Fosters at their 41 South establishment and started coming to Country Junction once it opened.

“Just the hospitality of it all,” answered Darlene when asked what she enjoys about the venue. “Everybody’s so nice. Nobody knew how to dance when they started coming here, so everybody learned together, so it’s a very humble and very friendly place, so it’s a good place to come.”

Country Junction originally opened on Friday and Saturday nights. Fridays would often see smaller crowds due to other local venues having live music and dancing, so after the business opened back up after a year closed to due to COVID, Orville decided to only open on Saturday nights so they wouldn’t be in competition with the singers who worked on Fridays.

The Fosters say they average around 60 to 80 people every week and the most they’ve ever seen in one night was 120.

Orville says they want all of Manchester to feel welcome at Country Junction. The Fosters have even been known to bring out a large birthday cake for patrons if they know about their big day ahead of time, all in an effort to make an enjoyable experience those in attendance.

“My slogan, to be honest with you, is ‘Our business is your pleasure,’” he explained. “We’ve been watching everybody else having fun for about thirty-five years. We’re here to serve them. We’re not here to buy a new Cadillac. We’re just here for them.”