We would love to have you join us!

Keep on dancin’!

Barb Walter

Scott Zinser and Christina Corelli did the honors for us on June 26th. Our annual club picnic is scheduled for August 9th. Terry Halley and Jackie Gale are on board for August 14th.

We look forward to our Hot August Nights/End of Summer Dance, Sandy Harris calling and cueing on August 28th.

On a sad note, Ray Janisse, long-time square dancer, died recently. Our condolences to his wife, Diann.

Marguerite Zolman

As another float pulled past us to join the parade, the four-piece band played 'I'll Fly Away' so KC had us square up and we danced to it. KC also called our dance that night and we were thrilled to have four squares, thanks to guests from several clubs. Many thanks to KC and Linda Curtis for a fun afternoon and evening! Carmen

We have pretty much finished mambo and will be working on bolero steps for August as we prepare for fall lessons in an “as of yet” undecided rhythm. We did a demo at Summer Festival for the Showcase of Rounds. Hope those of you who attended, enjoyed it.

Come join us on Thursdays to dance Phase 3-4 rhythms with a great bunch of people and a good cuer in Cheryl Manley with the assistance of her husband, Geof. Marilyn Schmit

Some of us are getting around dancing at other clubs and going to festivals.

Life time member (and my partner) Al Felde had surgery for a cochlear implant on June 30 so hopefully this fall he will be able to hear and enjoy the dances a lot more.

We are still looking for a new home for our club to use to dance, so if you know of someplace in the Albany area that might welcome square dancers at a reasonable price, let us know. My email is sandy.harris@comcast.net Enjoy the summer. Sandy

Congratulations to the Silver City Squares for capturing the Mid-Willamette Valley banner from us. Many clubs in the council competed for the honor, and we accept your challenge to win it back!

It's time! Friday, July 24, is our annual Dance Under the Stars. It will be held in Newberg on the tennis courts at the corner of Howard and 6th Streets. Pre-plus is at 7:30 and mainstream at 8:00 with Newberg's own Randy Dibble calling. Julie Stiers will cue rounds. Please remember that the dancing surface will eat your good dance shoes; sneakers are recommended.

Two parades filled our July dance card. Half the club turned out for the St. Paul Rodeo parade on Independence Day. We are also dancing in the Newberg Old Fashioned Festival Parade on July 25th.

Our plus class graduated five dancers in July including a 12-year old, and we are proud of how well each of our students have mastered the moves. A-2 classes and workshops are continuing through the summer, and are now at 7:00 on Tuesdays. Drop-ins are welcome.

Shari and Mark, who met through square dancing, had a lovely wedding attended by a number of Willamette Squares members. Of course, our "purple Shari" made sure the purple theme was carried throughout. It was a beautiful ceremony, and, of course, there was plenty of food and music and dancing. We wish them happiness together.

Willamette Squares got together for a meeting at the new home of Nancy and Gary Ohren. Nancy and Gary had hosted us before at their previous home overlooking the creek. They decided it was time to downsize so they sold their existing home and built their new one. It is lovely and we were able to see it and at the same time hold our business meeting. Congratulations to them on their beautiful new home. Jodee Howard

We have a dance demo at the West Linn Old Time Fair on the 19, at 3:P.M. I don’t often go to fairs, but this is too tempting. (I usually avoid temptation, unless I can’t resist.)

Towards the end of the month (on the 26th) will be our Back to School Dance, where school supplies will be accepted for a needy school. KC Curtis and Tami Helms will provide the entertainment.

Lotta Fluff

Our last dance in the 2014-2015 season, ended on June 19th, “Lazy Days of Summer” was the theme. With George Hermann calling, an invitation was extended to Independence Wagon Wheelers to join us. You folks made that dance fun for the Chaps & Petticoats and for George. Not to mention, you took home our banner! …Thank you so much for the smiles and the dancing.

Spend a day at the Aurora Colony Days and enjoy “vintage” in more ways than one. Aurora is the “antique Capital of Oregon”…lots of antique malls and “vintage” wine tasting at: Rooster Run or Aurora Colony Vineyards. Come as early 7:30am and enjoy breakfast served by the American Legion Hall, bring a folding chair and set-up by 10am for the 11am parade where (guess who) Chaps and Petticoats will dance on the float. Afterwards, antique shop to your heart’s content: enjoy, too, specialty drinks and café sandwiches and pastry at the “White Rabbit” off 99E.

It is that time again…plant the gardens for new memberships and grow your club. Chaps and Petticoats Mainstream Lessons begin September 13th, from 6:00-8:00 pm, with Scott Zinser teaching at the Maplewood Grange. Sundays, September 13th & 20th are free lesson nights, so Angels take a friend to dinner and bring them to an evening of “learning to dance” at no charge…they will enjoy the social environment, and perhaps even want to continue to dance.

Invite: Angels are appreciated and admitted to lessons free of charge. Does your Club do lessons? If not, bring a student, you can always introduce them as a “new dancer“ to your club, once graduated.

Coming attraction: are you “Man enough to wear Pink”? Take your Club to the afternoon dance from 1:00-4:00pm at the Kinton Grange in Beaverton and help the ToeDraggers earn funds for the Susan B. Komen Cancer Foundation. Remember … wear Pink!

Happy Feet,

Betty Chipps

Summertime can be busy with gardens, barbecues, outings, and the like, but don’t forget to support your local square dance club. I have heard it said, “The more you dance, the better you feel!” It is great physical activity as well as a fun, social time. We are grateful for those who have stepped up recently to fill in some vacant door and kitchen duty slots. If we all do our share, the club can thrive. Don’t forget to start talking to your friend, relatives, coworkers, or enemies about square dancing. Lessons are coming up in September.

In July and August our club dance schedule goes "dark", allowing the Happy Hoppers to disperse to points unknown, spreading the joy. We'll start up again in September.

Our weekly square dance lessons are also on summer vacation. The Happy Hoppers work hard to make our education program a comfortable environment for newcomers. Lessons will pick up again on Monday, September 21.

The highpoint of the summer season, our annual club picnic will take place on Sunday, August 2, at Don and Joanne Oja's farm.

Marc Kahn

Why not join us for our Big Birthday Bash on the 1st of August? That one day of the year we celebrate the birthday of anyone and everyone who has one in 2015. That includes YOU! Last year we celebrated a total of 3408 years of birthdays. That was the most… so far. Help us set a new record this year. (Pssst… Invite all your friends, they don’t have to be dancers to have birthdays!)

And this year, we’ll be celebrating SPECIAL MILESTONES in our guests’ lives. Special Birthdays: Sweet 16; Voting Age 18; Legal Drinking Age 21; 30 year olds; 40 year olds; Middle Age 50; Over the Hill 60; Retiree 62s and 65s; Honored 70 year olds + 75 year olds; Very Honored 80’s + 85’s; Any 90 year old Exemplary Citizens? What about Anniversaries: 20th; Silver, Pearl, Coral, Ruby, Sapphire, Golden or Diamond Anniversaries?

Other special Milestones? 25 years at the same company or in the same house? 10 years volunteering for the same non-profit? How about special Milestones of membership in your dance club, too? SURE… we’re celebrating together and celebrating for each other.

We have lots to commemorate. So come join the party on Saturday, August 1st, the first Saturday Dance for the Oaky Doaks. Intermediate Rounds at 7:00; a special round dance workshop at 7:20; Pre-rounds at 7:40; Mainstream + Rounds 8:00 -11:00. With a special Big Bash Birthday Party and Milestone Celebration at break!

- - Elysa and Eric Foxman

Dave & Barbara Schmidt handed over the presidency to Greg & Sandy Peterson, who were last year’s Vice President. (It’s traditional in RCD for VP’s to become President the following year). Larry & Penny Crow are taking over as Vice President. Neal & Virginia Keefer are returning as Secretary; Jim and Caron Clippard are carrying on as Treasurer.

Thanks, everyone, for steering us through last year, and continuing into 2016. We are fortunate to have such good people, doing so many jobs, so well.

To name a few other behind-the-scenes folks are Philip and Michelle Wood, our outstanding and reliable editor; Susan & Marvin Shaw, our indomitable Sunshine Reporter; Jolene & Ed Cummings, our fabulous photographer; Carol Mendenhall & Gene Meyer, our friendly visitation liaison.

Our clubs are fortunate to have “sparks” who provide that extra zip to our cherished activity, which involves much more than just dancing, as we all know. I’m thinking about June’s recent celebration of Stanley & Norma Craig’s 60th wedding anniversary, a combined effort of RCD and BnB’s. It was especially sweet to have their children attend.

Recent successful efforts have been the fund-raising for our hall; the giant basement sale spearheaded by Jim & Margi Adams; and the Ted Vigil/John Denver Tribute (and yummy bake sale) headed by Jim & Caron Clippard, plus the efforts of many volunteers.

As noted earlier, we were dark (our only time of the year) for Summer Festival in Klamath Falls.

Nancy Thornton

On Saturday, August 1, we will have our second annual ice cream social—Saturday Sundaes—at the Ankeny Street Studio, 975 SE Sandy Blvd., Portland. This free event includes ice cream, social time, an introduction to square dancing for new dancers, and an hour of Plus and Mainstream dancing for experienced dancers. The fun starts at 6:30 pm. All are welcome—solos, couples, families. This is a great opportunity to experience the Ramblers’ high-energy dance style in air-conditioned comfort!

For those looking forward to September, note that our September dance will be on September 12—this is the second Saturday in September. We wanted to avoid dancing on Labor Day weekend since many people have travel plans. Our caller will be Scott Amspoker (New Mexico). We’ll alternate Mainstream and Plus tips from 7 until 9:30 at the Milwaukie Grange.

Our fall Mainstream classes will start on September 9, with a free introduction for new dancers. Classes take place every Wednesday evening from 7-9 pm at the Ankeny Street Studio. Ian Craig will be our instructor this fall.

Planning is well underway for our all-weekend dance extravaganza, Scares and Squares, which will take place October 23-25 at the Multnomah Arts Center in Multnomah Village. (Note the date change—we will be dancing the weekend before Halloween this year.) Callers this year will be Mike DeSisto, Chris Phillips (Florida), and Gary Monday. This is a great opportunity to dance many hours over the course of the weekend—and we dance all levels from Mainstream through C1. Registration and other information is available at http://www.rosetownramblers.com/SNS2015/. SYIAS!

Jeff Knapp

We have visitations planned as well as a club picnic. We will start the dance season in September with Chuck Garner calling on September 12. Dorothy Lowder is our cuer. We dance at the Hazel Dell Grange with plus from 7 - 8, and mainstream from 8 - 10. Happy dancing one and all, stay cool, and yellow rocks to all.

Jerrie

Our next dance will be our annual Battle Rock Festival over Labor Day Weekend. Leonard Snodgrass will be traveling down to the South Coast to call the weekend for us and Dave Cooper will be coming over the mountain to cue the rounds for us. We will again be having the Friday night BBQ (don't forget to pre-register!), dancing in the surf, pie making, cider pressing, our fundraiser breakfast, Sunday night jamboree and lots of relaxing and catching up with old friends, so bring your RVs, book a motel or vacation home and plan on spending a fun weekend with us on the beautiful South Coast!

Cathy

We are getting ready to start our new class on September 13. Advertising has begun and cards and flyers printed up to post and hand out. We will be dancing in the July Jubilee Parade in North Bend and also plan on dancing at the Fun Fest Parade in Coos Bay in September.

Our annual South Coast Area Picnic will be held on the third Sunday in August at Sturdivant Park in Coquille. It will be a potluck with hot dogs and hamburgers provided by the Area Council. If you are in the area come by and join us.

Linda

Several of our members attended the Tri-Squares Trophy dance. We took 2nd place, with about 37% of our membership in attendance. We are looking forward to the Valley Squares hosting the next dance where we plan to win first place.

We extended a special invitation to the Hoedowners to visit us on Saturday, 6/27, the hottest, muggiest night of the year. The Hoedowners had to go dark due to the heat. Consequently, with our “wonderful” air conditioning at the YMCA, we thought it would be a great opportunity for the Hoedowners to join us and Richard and Daryl could call a few tips together. Well, the Hoedowners visited, as did R Square D, Hoppers, B&Bs... and the list goes on. It was a HUGE dance, with both the Hoedowners earning a banner and R Square D retrieving their banner (which we already miss & need to “steal” again!). Unfortunately, unbeknownst to the YMCA or our club, the A/C wasn't working! A few days later, the YMCA's Facilities Manager investigated and confirmed it was not working. This will forever go down in our club's history as the "Murphy's Law" Dance.

The A/C was fixed by the time we had our next (7/11) dance, also well-attended, with the Happy Hoppers taking home one of our banners. With Richard taking some well-earned vacation time, Jimmy Ellis, who just moved from Texas to Vancouver, called our dance, with Dorothy Lowder cuing. Both did a great job! It was a very fun dance, with lots of laughter and craziness. It was "nicely air-conditioned" too.

We look forward to our Saturday 7/25 dance, with Randy Dibble calling and Dorothy Lowder cuing, and our Saturday 8/22 dance, with Mike Stout calling and his wife, Julie, cueing. We will be dark the 2nd Saturday in August for USA West. Richard Lane will be back in September, when we start lessons.

Nancy Smith

We are in the process of finding callers and cuers who could carry on our best traditions and introduce us to new ones for the ongoing success of our club. After many years of putting up with a bunch of “We do it our way” dancers, our caller, George Clark, is retiring this fall. Stay turned for announcements.

Our visitation to Hoedowners June 13th was a success with fifteen members coming to dance. The Hoedowners offered strawberries and ice cream which our members always enjoy as much as dancing.

Do not forget we invite other dancers to our annual beach trip September 16th – 18th in Garibaldi. Square dancers have special rates at the Garibaldi Inn. We have activities planned and there will be plenty of food. We do like to eat. For more information on activities and space call Nan at 503-291-1966.

Members, please sign up to bring a dish to the annual picnic August 13th. I was sweetly asked to bring chocolate chip cookies. It is pleasant to be appreciated.

All plus dancers are invited to dance with us on Monday afternoons, Rounds 1:00 - 1:30; Plus 1:30 - 3:15 p.m., at the Sunset Presbyterian Church, 14986 NW Cornell Road in Beaverton. This hall is air-conditioned which makes dancing a pleasure during the summer. Please check our caller/cuer schedule for July, August & September at www.eagerbeavers.info or see the OFN flyer. You will see callers Daryl Clendenin and Darrell Kalmbach on the agenda.

Rachel Nettleton

The weather turned scorching hot and we decided that we couldn’t guarantee a comfortable dance experience with the Weather Channel forecasting 103 degrees for our June 27th Dad’s Barbeque. Well the forecasters are the luckiest type of employees; they don’t get fired even when they’re wrong. The temperatures moderated into the 90’s but most Hoedowners headed north to dance with the Columbia River Dancers. It was warm wherever you went. It’s a June we’ll not soon forget.

Not to worry, our August 8th dance is our traditional Knobby Knees Dance. That means were expecting dancers to come with knees exposed; short skirts, short pants, cut-offs, jogging attire, kilts, capris, just let your patella hang out! Darrell Kalmbach will be our guest caller, Randy Lewis, cuer and ice cream sundaes on the menu.

Not to belabor a point but August 22nd is our Hot August Nights Dance. Hot August Nights is an annual vintage car show in Reno where the hot rods and muscle cars are the main attraction. We promise to keep you cool with ice cold watermelon and if you have a cool car, drive it over for the evening. Stay cool,

Krystal Laas

August 12th will be our Hawaiian dance with Jim Raupp as guest caller. August 26th will be our Back To School dance. Please bring back to school supplies that will be donated to one of our local schools. Both dances will be casual.

For more information about R Square D please visit our website at www.r-square-d.info or friend us on Facebook. Caller Craig Abercrombie, cuer Lonnie Sykes.

Toni Carroll for Marie Geisler

We celebrated our Country’s Independence Day with a dance with root beer floats at the break.

The Club is looking forward to the Mystery Trip with the Valley Squares. Anyone know where we are going? Ha, ha.

August 1st our dance theme is “Hawaiian Luau” with Mike Stout and Ken Pratt calling and cueing and Julie Stout will attempt to teach us how to do the Hula.

Annual TVC Hahn picnic and barn dance at the Hahn farm. This is always a great time with friends of all over the area to socialize, eat, and dance is a real barn.

August 9th is our annual Club picnic at Noble Woods Park in Hillsboro; this is always a great time to socialize with our members and of course eat.

Then there is our anniversary dance which is on October 3rd. Tickets are on sale now, $8 for single and $15 for couples including dinner at 6:30, dance at 7:30. Dan Preedy will be calling and Ken Pratt cueing.

Tom & Janice Sminia

July started out warm with a combined celebration for the USA and KC’s birthday on July 3rd.

As we begin August we take our last world tour stop to Japan for our two Friday dances. August 21st we’ll celebrate the Festival of Aki Celebration. Bring your stamped passport to see if you are eligible for the special prize drawing that evening.

Where has our summer gone? We’ll begin in Sept with celebrating the Toe’s Anniversary and our special dance, “Who is Man Enough to Wear Pink”, Sept. 12th a Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Kinton Grange. All donations from the dance will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation to help find a cure for cancer.

We just have to share our excitement for KC and Linda Curtis. They have accepted, along with their commitment to our club, to be the new caller team for the Buzzin’ Bees in Vancouver, WA. It is so exciting to see KC and Linda taking on more responsibility to keep the square dance community strong and vital.

Pat Olson

The month of August tends to go by so fast! Even during this busy season, make sure to stop by and visit the Tri Squares! We will be having two dances during the month of August. Our first dance will be held on August 1st, with the theme “Tropical Isle”. Our second dance, on August 21st is themed a "Concert in the Park”. Both dances will start at 7:30 PM with 15 minutes of pre-rounds and 15 minutes of plus. At 8PM we will start mainstream with every fourth tip plus. Please note, that if temperatures reach over 90 degrees we will be dark. Make sure to dress comfortably. We would love to have visitors join us!

Our website is well kept and up to date. Make sure to check out our page at www.trisquares.com. We have information on our lessons, dance flyers, photos, contact information and much more! See you in a square,

Leslie Woodland

Our members showed up in force at the Tri-Squares' Red, White & Blue Dance where we took home the traveling trophy - a wonderful way for Cheryl Kahler to end her term as VP in charge of Visitations. Watch the OFN and the Valley Squares Website for your chance to steal it for your club.

Our Summer Solstice dance, held in our air-conditioned hall, was fun and marked the beginning of this hot, dry spell.

Lessons ended with our month-long Mainstream workshop. Chuck challenged us with some all-position and dance by definition calls. We hope our dancers use the summer to visit lots of different clubs. In September, our Mastering Mainstream, followed by Beginning Plus lessons commence on Tuesday, September 15th: 6:30 for MM; 8:00 for Plus.

Hope to see you at our dances August 5th and 19th.

Patt Hawthorne

The Wave Steppers’ square dance classes, taught by club caller Joe Wrabek, continue every Wednesday evening at the Tillamook Elks Lodge, 1907 Third St. in downtown Tillamook. The classes are free.

All the club’s dances are held the second Saturday of the month, on the Dance Floor at Garibaldi City Hall, 107 6th St. (one block off US 101). The Garibaldi Inn and Suites, located half a block away, offers discounts for dancers spending the night. Please visit our webpage for up to date information, www.wavesteppers.org.

Joe Wrabek

Wearing casual attire and chowing down on ice cream sundaes (some were enough to impress Chef Jen Yee at New York’s Lafayette) the ice cream “Saturday Night Sundae” dance was a great way, despite the heat wave, to kick off the start to summer.

August is just around the corner, and along with the Dancing Friends and Timber 8’s we plan on dancing at the Douglas County Fair in the evenings and hope you can join us.

Happy Dancing,

Rita Schuchard