Baby Loves Disco: Tiny dancers

Parents and kids can put on their dancing shoes together at Baby Loves Disco. The family-friendly dance party returns to Chicago on Oct. 25.

The afternoon event takes place at Lincoln Hall, which has hosted the event in the past. The live-music venue will transform into a childproofed disco, tricked out with bubble machines, egg shakers and diaper-changing stations. DJs spin classic disco and new music at the event, and everyone is invited to boogie on the dance floor. There will be snacks and juice boxes for the tykes, and a cash bar for parents.

Based in Philadelphia, Baby Loves Disco, or BLD, is the mom and pop company of Heather Murphy Monteith and Andy Blackman Hurwitz.

“People who come to Baby Loves Disco are coming for real fun in real space and time,” Monteith says. “It’s an analog experience. We’re tuned in to each other and having fun.”

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Baby Loves Disco has been a popular event in cities across the country as well as abroad, including Tokyo and London. BLD has brought its family dance party to Lincoln Center, the Hollywood Bowl and the White House’s Easter egg hunt.

“I feel like a proud parent,” Hurwitz says of BLD. “Of all the crazy things I’ve done in my life, it brings me the most happiness and joy.”

Monteith started the event a decade ago when she was working as a waitress. A professional dancer and mother of a young son, she was turned off by what she saw as the overcorporatization of children’s entertainment and decided to create an alternative.

She asked her boss if she could hold a dance party for kids and parents in the nightclub upstairs. For advertising, she hung fliers in front of the restaurant. The event was a hit. Born in the days before Facebook and Twitter, it quickly gained a following through word of mouth.

“It was definitely created for parents who have some hip ideals,” Monteith says.

Hurwitz came on board in 2005. He was living in New York at the time, working as a lawyer in the music industry. Married with sons of his own, he discovered the event during a family trip to his Philadelphia hometown. A friend told him about a “baby disco happening” at the nightclub Fluid. Hurwitz spent time there when he was younger and had fond memories of the venue. He and his wife took their sons to Monteith’s second monthly dance party.

The event was a revelation.

“The early days with your kids are tough,” Hurwitz says. “It’s beautiful and wonderful, but you don’t get to spend much time with your significant other. It’s stressful. But I still recall those three hours we spent at Baby Loves Disco, because it was a relief. It was so refreshing to be in a nightclub where they were playing really good music and there were all these healthy snacks and juice boxes for the kids. We weren’t driving, so we each got a glass of wine. I looked at my wife and said, ‘Oh my God, are we having fun?’ We all danced together. My oldest son looked at me and said, ‘Dad, I never knew you danced!'”

Hurwitz notes that Baby Loves Disco’s “not-so-secret secret” was that it was an event aimed at mothers and fathers. Given that parents of young children can often feel isolated and out of touch with family and friends, the event gives moms and dads a chance to connect with other parents.

“It was a great social network,” Hurwitz observes. “A great, live, in-person social network.”

Baby Loves Disco quickly expanded, employing other moms and dads around the country to host in their own cities.

“Moms started reaching out to us around the country asking us to bring Baby Loves Disco to their towns,” Hurwitz says. “Our response was always along the lines of: ‘Do it yourself.’ People liked the brand. Chicago was one of the first cities where a mom said, ‘If you come, we’ll get the venue, and it will be sold out. We’ll pay for you to fly out here.'”

Hurwitz cites the involvement of original Chicago host parent Bryn McCoy as an integral part of their longtime success in the Windy City.

Baby Loves Disco eventually spread to 36 cities. Monteith and Hurwitz were both overseeing all the local events. “They were never formally franchised,” Hurwitz says. “We were literally managing everyone, from the local DJ to the emcee to the local mom to the street team. It was sort of this accidental business.”

A fortuitous opportunity came when the fashion retailer H&M decided to launch a children’s clothing line and approached Baby Loves Disco. From 2009 to 2012, BLD toured the United States under H&M’s sponsorship, appearing free at nightclubs, shopping malls, children’s hospitals and military bases.

Baby Loves Disco is held in 10 cities monthly, and the company remains a labor of love for its founders. Hurwitz runs all aspects of the day-to-day operations.

“Heather and I take turns at being in charge now,” Hurwitz says. “We love Baby Loves Disco, not because of the money, but because of the community, the goodwill, the friends and the people we meet.”

It’s also been a decade of bringing kids and parents together on the dance floor.

“It’s not just kids dancing, because you can see that anywhere,” Hurwitz says. “It’s that moment when the daughter is dancing with her dad, and the mother is slow-dancing with her son. It feels good to provide that and be a part of that. That’s what keeps us going.”

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When: 1:30 p.m. Oct. 25

Where: Lincoln Hall, 2424 N Lincoln Ave.

Tickets: $15 individual; $55 for four-ticket family pack, free for nonwalkers; 773-525-2501 or lincolnhallchicago.com