{"id":11151,"date":"2026-08-19T21:27:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T04:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/?p=11151"},"modified":"2026-08-30T16:38:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T23:38:58","slug":"in-da-club-adulting-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/in-da-club-adulting-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"In Da Club: Adulting Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chic<\/span><\/div><\/div>

Advertisement<\/center><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/center><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

In Da Club: Adulting Edition<\/h1>\n

By Stacey Gualandi<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>

The first rule of The Happy Hours club is: \u201cYou do talk about the Happy Hours club,\u201d says founder and self-described \u201cXennial\u201d Heather McHardy, who opened the over-35 rotating Las Vegas dance space a year ago.<\/p>\n

The former professional dancer, who performed on European cruises for more than a decade, wanted to bring back the club experience for Gen Xers and millennials \u2014 but at a more reasonable time. Kind of like an alternative nightclub without the late night. Or taking the night out of nightclub. Sort of.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no judgment. People are dancing the entire time and everyone\u2019s having a good time. It\u2019s just good music, good people, and then at 11 p.m., literally, it\u2019s empty,\u201d McHardy says.<\/p>\n

The first-come, first-served monthly event has a resident music maestro, DJ Velvet Rebel, who spins tunes from the \u201980s, \u201990s and early 2000s. One month, it\u2019s at Grey Witch in Henderson (\u201clike a \u201990s basement party\u201d); the next, it switches to the more spacious Notoriety downtown.<\/p>\n

When McHardy isn\u2019t holding court in da club, she is a personal trainer, Pilates coach and Gyrotonic instructor. We spoke after she finished training one of her five clients. While she has big plans for the future of The Happy Hours, this dance diva isn\u2019t planning to quit her day job ... yet.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Heather<\/span><\/div><\/div>

Photo of Heather McHardy by Nicholas Foote<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

Chic Compass: What can someone expect from The Happy Hours?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heather McHardy:<\/strong> Whether they\u2019re in Henderson or downtown Las Vegas, you can expect an atmosphere where not everyone is on their phones. It\u2019s our generation, so we\u2019re just there to have a good time. The honest truth is, we are not going toward any trends because we want to go back in time.<\/p>\n

Chic Compass: But are you surprised that you tapped into this demand?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heather McHardy: <\/strong>There are a lot of people who are like, \u201cI\u2019ve been wanting something like this for so long.\u201d The first time I put it out on TikTok, I said, \u201cHey, this is what I want to do. Who else would be interested?\u201d When I tell you that was the first time a video actually hit and thousands of people responded, I was like, \u201cWhoa, okay, we\u2019re doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chic Compass: What is the attraction?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heather McHardy: <\/strong>If you ask anyone over both generations, Gen X and millennials, they\u2019ll all tell you that it was the best music around, period. It wasn\u2019t just the nostalgia part of it. It was just good music. My kids love it. They are 13 and 10!<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Heather<\/span><\/div><\/div>

Chic Compass: As someone who is hyperfocused on health and fitness, how good is this mentally?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heather McHardy:<\/strong> I think movement is medicine, but more than fitness, I think that anyone, if they want to move, should not do something they don\u2019t like. It\u2019s not going to continue. It\u2019s not sustainable. So if you enjoy dancing, then don\u2019t do cardio, just go find somewhere to go dance. But there are very, very few places for us to do that. On top of that, movement in the form of dance has way more mental benefits than I think a lot of people realize, especially when you\u2019re stressed. Like, the world is burning down right now, so this is a place where we can go and forget about it for four hours. We can just feel happy and enjoy moving and fill ourselves with endorphins. So, for mental health, you get that moment where you\u2019re not under 5,000 pounds of stress. Then you add on top of it the discoveries now that if you strategically move your body or move it to rhythm and you have to think about it, then it also staves off things like Alzheimer\u2019s and dementia because you\u2019re actually connecting your brain to your body. When I tell you, when you walk through the crowd on the dance floor, just look at everyone\u2019s faces because not one of them is worried about anything. They\u2019re literally just living and just free. It almost makes you want to cry. It\u2019s so amazing to see.<\/p>\n

Chic Compass: Is this a positive for social connection, too?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heather McHardy:<\/strong> You meet other locals. So many people have come to The Happy Hours and left with a huge group of friends, or they\u2019ve come on their own and I\u2019ve introduced them to friends and they\u2019ve left with a boyfriend. Everyone will tell you that dating in this town is terrible, so it\u2019s somewhere where we can go meet people who aren\u2019t traveling through. It\u2019s almost all local. There are a few people who catch it when they\u2019re here, but it\u2019s almost all locals.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Heather<\/span><\/div><\/div>

Chic Compass: What advice would you give to someone, particularly a woman, when it comes to creating something that doesn\u2019t exist?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heather McHardy: <\/strong>Well, first and foremost, I wish I had done it sooner. I don\u2019t know what in my head said you have to wait for somebody else to do it. I literally started the first one with zero money. You just talk to people and tell them you\u2019ll find collaborators. You\u2019ll find people who want to help you. Just do it. The sooner you do it, the better. If I had started it four years prior, I would\u2019ve been the first. It drives me nuts now, but you\u2019ll be surprised, especially if you have kids, you\u2019ve already done, like, the hardest thing that could ever be done in life.<\/p>\n

Chic Compass: Do you have plans for The Happy Hours world domination?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heather McHardy:<\/strong> I want a brick-and-mortar space. I want us to have a club that we know we can go to any night or afternoon raves \u2026 something that\u2019s for us, because this city has so many clubs that are not really for us. And I want one in every major city!<\/p>\n

Chic Compass: So, no more hesitation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heather McHardy: <\/strong>That is the plan. As soon as we can get enough people to know about it to where there are multiple events a month \u2014 not just one a month \u2014 then we will have the momentum to have a place for everyone to go. And it has to have free parking. I will not open it if it does not have free parking. Ha!<\/p>\n

thehappyhourslv.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Happy Hours is putting an adult-friendly spin on Las Vegas nightlife. Founder Heather McHardy shares how her over-35 dance parties are bringing Gen Xers and millennials together for nostalgic music, movement, new friendships and plenty of fun\u2014all while getting everyone home at a reasonable hour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2360,4520],"tags":[4220,4463,3009,3128,4462],"class_list":["post-11151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-entertainment","tag-dancing","tag-heather-mchardy","tag-music","tag-stacey-gualandi","tag-the-happy-hours"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11151"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11259,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11151\/revisions\/11259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}