With many clubs going on their summer hiatus, it's wise to check the When & Where listing to make sure your destination dance is still on.
Oregon's Bill and Neva Reid received the Washington state federation's Parker Award at the Washington Summer Festival on June 18. Congratulations for their well-deserved recognition!
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Remember to sign up for Summer Festival – the place to be will be Seaside, July 29-31. Featured caller Andy Allemao and featured cuer Dave Cooper will be presenting a fun and exciting dance program for our dancing enjoyment all weekend. They will be joined by local callers and cuers including the Crew. Saturday morning Amanda Roberts will be presenting a seminar on how to use Social Media to promote your club Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon, The Heritage Dancers from California and our very own Rivercity Riders will be part of a special exhibition dance. Saturday afternoon also includes a fun hour of dancing on the beach. The Youth are sponsoring an afterparty Friday evening with fun, upbeat music. Watch out – there just may be some dancing with beach balls! The Youth will also have a picnic and scavenger hunt on Saturday. Saturday evening’s dancing will end with a Mid-Winter afterparty. On Sunday, Summer Festival will carry on the tradition of a Heavenly Howdown with the melodic tones of Renee Rudd. In addition to great dancing opportunities, we will also have vendors, the beach, good weather (even if it rains), and great friends. Hope to see you there!
Congratulations Silver City Knights on an outstanding showing at the Pacific Northwest Teen Square Dance Festival this year for receiving 2nd place in the Junior Division and an award for going above and beyond selling the most badges that help pay for the festival. These kids have spent hours practicing and fundraising to represent Oregon at the Festival and we are really proud of them and their adult advisors!
Karyn Buchheit, the Silver Knights' lead adult advisor, has been appointed chairman of the 2018 Pacific Teen Northwest Festival, to be held in Silverton, Oregon, the first weekend in May. Please mark this date on your calendar and let Karyn know how you can help when she contacts your club with a list of things she needs help with.
Hey!! Cowabunga Dudes!! It.s time to party in the sun! We have a sizzling Summer Festival planned for the youth in Seaside starting at 3:00 pm, Friday, July 29th. Check in at the Youth Table in the front area of the Convention Center to receive up to the date information on youth events and a signup sheet for Saturday.s lunch.
Friday night, the Youth will be hosting the after party in the Main Hall at 10:00 pm. Watch out for flying beach balls and other fun things going on during the hour of fun, upbeat dancing. On Saturday, the festival opens at 10:00 am. The youth will have a box lunch picnic outside of the Convention Center above the river at noon. Register for lunch before Saturday, 11:15 am. Lunch costs $6 per person. During lunch, information will be handed out on a fun scavenger hunt. The secret location of the special "Youth Hang Out" will also be revealed. At 2:30 pm, Youth Coordinator Amanda Roberts will move the party to the beach for a square dance at 3:00 pm on the sand in front of the turnaround. All dancers are invited to participate in the beach dance.
If you haven't registered for Summer Festival already, look for the registration form and register. Now. You don't want to miss out!! Scholarships are available to help families who need assistance purchasing their ribbons. Contact me at Kathy@4roberts.us for information.
Oregon's 2016 Summer Festival will be held at the Seaside Convention Center, July 29 to 31, 2016. You may download your registration form right here. Seaside hotels fill up quickly in the summer, so get your reservations in early.
The young and young-at-heart will want to check out the set of special youth activities at summer festival, including a tip on the beach Saturday afternoon.
Mid-Winter Festival will be held at the Linn County Fairgrounds in Albany, January 27 to 29, 2017. Click here for forms and more information.
All clubs in the Oregon Federation are required to maintain their status as non-profit corporations with the State of Oregon. The Secretary of State's office mails out a renewal notice about a month before your registration expires every year. The following clubs expire this month:
Download a complete list of the Federation club dances this month, all sorted by date and city.
Everything in the When & Where is extracted from the state directory information. If you find that your club information is wrong, you can fix that by going to the directory information area and fixing your data.
Download a list of callers and cuers who are available and ready to call or cue a dance for you.
July's Oregon Round of the Month is "River Town", Phase II+1 Two-Step (fishtail), choreographed by Paula and Warwick Armstrong. This was chosen by the Portland Area Council. Track 12 onb the album "Brighter Day" by Troy Cassar-Daley. Download your cue sheet here.
For more information on the Round of the Month, please contact .
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The new dance season will begin September 17. Dances will be held on the third Saturdays thereafter. So, earmark your calendars for the third Saturdays for the 2016-2017 season.
Keep on dancing!
Christina Corelli, Club Cuer
On May 27th Lennie Ludiker called for us and as always, we had another really good dance with lots of guests, especially those that dance with Boots and Sandals from the Cottage Grove area.
Our potluck club picnic is on Sunday, June 26th from noon to 3:30 or 4:00 p.m., weather permitting, at Suzanne's country house and lovely grounds. In July our club will be dancing to the calling of Terry Halley on the 8th at our Hawaiian Beach Party Dance. Wear your Hawaiian shirts and dresses and bring some beach-type snacks. On the 22nd, Lennie Ludiker will be back to call for us again. We hope to have lots of guests from other clubs who are dark for the summer.
Submitted by Shirley Marc, Single Trees, webmaster
With that said, we dance Sunday from 5:30 - 8:00 p.m. Tim Matteson, our caller, can teach and call all levels from Beginners through Advanced. We dance at the Emerald Empire Square Dance Hall in Springfield which has a cushioned wood floor and is air conditioned. We are dark July 3 and August 14.
Happy dancing,
Christina Corelli, Member-at-Large
Our Annual Picnic is Saturday, August 27th at Island Park in Springfield. It will be in the south shelter from 10:00 to 2:00. Everyone is invited to each of these events. Hope you can make it and bring a potluck dish to share. Bring your own plates, utensils, and beverages. We will have music and some dancing.
Starting in September, we will be dancing in Hall A at the Emerald Square Dance Center on the 1st Saturday of each month.
Submitted by Larry F. Dupray
As a reminder, Independence Wagon Wheelers will be dark during the month of August. Starting with our dances in September, we will be changing our dance time to have pre-rounds (our first dance of the month) or pre-plus (our second dance of the month) at 7:00 p.m. and our dance will be held from 7:30 to 10:00 p.m. Happy Dancing. Linda Neuschwander
June 16 will be our 40th birthday dance with no lessons, just two hours of dancing and having fun. Maybe Cheryl will put on her “sister” so she can dance once in a while. We are hoping that previous cuers, the Walz’s and maybe the Ball’s will show up to have some fun with us also.
We are considering rhythms for fall class and see what kind of other changes we need to make. So far, we are doing well and don’t want to mess up the progress we have made. Come and join us for some fun and learning. Marilyn Schmit
June 8 was our Mainstream Graduation with 11 of our students in attendance. It was a fun evening of dancing, food and friendship as we put them through their paces with bags over their heads and ropes about their waists. Do you remember your Graduation?
We visited the Independence Wagon Wheeler's on June 11 to get back one of our banners.
Our Red, White & Blue Dance is Friday July 1. Wear your best patriotic colors and come join the fun! We dance the first and third Fridays of the month.
Our 5th Friday dance is a Plus dance and that will be July 29. Pre-Rounds start at 7 p.m. with Jeanine Norden, Advanced at 7:30 p.m. with caller Randy Dibble, followed by Plus with Intermediate Rounds from 8-10:15 p.m. We will end the evening with another Advanced tip. See you all on the dance floor.
Sheila Machado
Now for the GREAT NEWS!!! Mark your calendars for May 2018. The exact dates will be confirmed soon (hopefully by this fall). The Pacific Northwest Teen Square Dance Festival is coming to Oregon again! Mom (Karyn Buchheit) was given the coordinator's job for the 2018 Festival. We will also be finding out later if Mom will have it again in 2019. See you at a dance soon. Note: We also have the 2017 Festival pins for sale (they gave them out at the meeting on June 5.) They look tye-dyed this time. Petrina Buchheit
July also brings us a 5th Friday so we'll be dancing A2 at The Estates Auditorium in Woodburn starting at 7:30.
We graduated four students in June and are delighted to welcome them to the square dance community.
Want to learn Advanced? Randy will be teaching it this fall in Newberg, starting the second Tuesday in September from 8 - 9:30 at the Newberg Mobile Park Community Center, 501 East Illinois Street. Mainstream lessons start the same day at 6:30.
Mark your calendars: August 26 is our mainstream Luau Dance from 7:30 - 10:30 at Chehalem Community Center, 2nd and Howard, in Newberg.
Last but not least, a shout out to Rick and Robin who are heading to Nationals in Iowa; we hope they have a blast!
Perrin Damon
Thanks to Nancy and Gary Ohren who hosted our club meeting. It was a potluck, and we generated what we trust were good ideas for growing our club. Now to put them into action! Jodee Howard
Jim Schira
“It’s break time, but I know your lovely eyes will be the banquet of my evening.”
“The ones with their noses in the air are the easiest to hook”
“Are you a full-blooded American?”
“I was before that transfusion last week.”
“Are you forgetting you’re married?”
“I’m doing my best.”
“I hear you buried your husband?”
“Yes, but he died first.”
“Is it true that the President of the B&B’s is the presumptive President of the PAC?”
“Well, let’s say he’s he’s quite presumptive.”
So, particularly, if you haven’t anything to do, and an evening to do it, come on over to the B&B’s any Wednesday night and eavesdrop on the merriment. On the 20th, you will have an opportunity to dance to your favorite Christmas carols on our Christmas in July dance. Craig Abercrombie and Tami Helms will be providing the entertainment.
Lotta Fluff
Darrell Kalmbach did a fabulous job as your fill-in, Putz’ (Roger Putzler was home bound with a flu bug that Friday), helped organized the event and truly honored the Vets during the Parade of Flags! Julie Stiers, stepped up and filled the cuer spot at our May 6th dance -- and did a super job. Then, Julie was our scheduled Cuer for the Armed Forces Day Dance; we loved the patriotic music and your energy Julie. Much thanks, also, to our club member, Sandy Shew, for scheduling Samantha Owings, our Celtic-Harp player -- what a star, she just shined!
At our June 3rd “Hippie” Dance we had four squares on the floor. Oaky Doaks, seven visitors “ not fair they were one short, were awarded an honorary visitation banner for their efforts. Silverton too had a square. Our ‘Caller Dude’ Scott Zinser put up three visiting guest callers and Cheryl Manley, the ‘Cuer Chic’ had really done her homework with the history shared on the songs she played, like the autobiographical hit “Creeque Alley” written and sung by Mamas and Papas. Prizes were awarded to: Ethan and Trinity, our only youth in attendance; Adults: Robert (Cut-ups) and Micky (C&P); and couple: Danny & Carol Williamson. Thank you, all, who made it such a ‘cool’ dance.
We are dark for the summer but will NOT be doing our food-booth fundraiser on July 16th -- Why? The Hubbard Hop Festival has cancelled the event (until next year) as their insurance carrier opted to cancel some major liability coverage within their policy. This makes us available to visit a club “ it could by YOUR club.
August 13th, Chaps and Petticoats will dance on the trailer in the Aurora Colony Days Parade. Join us for breakfast at 8:00am at the American Legion Hall, we decorate the float beginning 9:00am and the Parade begins at 11:00am. Bring you folding chair to watch!
Chaps and Petticoats will host lessons in September “ the first two Sundays: 9/11 (wow!) and 9/18 and free. PLUS will be offered at 4:00pm, Mainstream begins 6:00pm. SO Angels, IF you know someone who’d like to learn “ host them...bring them to the lessons and as an Angel, you dance for free throughout the lesson season. Just our way of saying thank you for helping our students learn..
I look forward to July 29-30th Summer Festival news -- hope to see you at Seaside.
Happy Feet
Betty Chipps
Some of our members will be attending the Summer Festival in Seaside, but for all of you who stay in town, we will be having our usual 5th Saturday dance. We are now doing all plus level dancing on 5th Saturdays. Craig Abercrombie will be calling this and Stephanie Lezano will be cueing, starting at 7:00 PM.
For those of you who feel a little rusty with Plus dancing, want to stretch your skills, or just get more floor time, come to our Thursday evening Plus workshops with Scott Zinser, 7:30-9:30 PM at the Barn.
There was an error in my last report that needs to be corrected. Our club is planning to move our dance nights to 1st, 4th , and 5th Saturdays in 2017, not 2016. For now, we are at the Boring Barn, dancing every 1st, 3rd, and 5th Saturdays in 2016, with the exception of New Year’s Eve. This is a fifth Saturday this year, but it has been canceled. Sorry, for any confusion that error may have caused.
Beverly De La Bruere
The only planned activity is our club picnic at Don and Joanne Oja's farm on August 7.
In the meantime, the near-term and long-term future of our venue, the Clark County Square Dance Center is quite up in the air. A sale is still pending, but the property boundary lines are not where everybody thought they were. Last I heard, the attorneys were petitioning the court talking about something called "adverse possession".
July 2 - We kick off the month with our Freedom Dance on July 2nd. This is something a little different for us: we’ll start with a hamburger and hot dog barbecue at 6PM before the regular dance beginning at 7PM. Cost for guests is $7: $2 for the bbq, $5 for the dance. Come for either or both. We’ll have desserts at the break at 9:30PM.
July 1-4: Peninsula Optimists Club Fireworks Sales: Oaky Doaks volunteer at different times during these days to earn a donation to the Club for their service. The stand, located at the intersection of N. Lombard St. and N. Chautauqua Blvd in Portland, is open from 9AM to 9PM. Get your fireworks here and support both the Optimists’ youth programs and the Oaky Doaks.
July 8-10: The Ivys host the Club’s Annual Yard Sale Fundraiser Friday-Sunday, July 8-10 from 9AM to 5PM at 7027 N. Wabash Ave in Portland. A great variety of new-to-you items for sale for a good cause.
July 16: British Invasion Dance: We kicked them out once, but 200 years later they came back! The British Invasion of the 1960s brought a lot of fun fashion and Fabulous music. Caller Mike Halley will feature songs from some of the greats of that era, and we’ll be movin’ and groovin', square dance style. This is a regular dance beginning at 7PM with Intermediate Rounds, Pre-rounds at 7:30PM and Mainstream square dancing beginning at 8PM.
July 23: Annual Picnic at Hillendale Park in Oregon City: A Saturday of family-friendly activities, including special fun stuff for kids and the young-at-heart. A potluck lunch, marshmallow golf and square dancing on the grass are some of the goodies organizers Susie and Larry Wood have lined up for us. Starts at 10AM with lunch at 11AM. Relax, socialize and enjoy an afternoon of activities until ??? The park is located at 19260 Clairmont Way in Oregon City, with plenty of parking.
We’re active all summer. Join us!
We’ve been lucky to have superb leadership, as always: our outgoing President couple, Greg and Sandy Peterson: Vice President couple, Larry and Penny Crow; Secretary Couple, Neal and Virginia Keefer; Treasurer Couple, Jim and Carol Clippard.
Incoming officers are President Couple Larry and Penny Crow; Vice President Couple Neal and Virginia Keefer; Secretary Couple Janet Johnson and Ira Evans; Treasurer Couple Richard and Carolyn George.
Special advanced thanks go to this incoming board, who will have the additional responsibility of searching for, recruiting and presenting to the membership, a replacement for our long time beloved caller couple, Les and Paula Seely.
Those of us who have been River City Dancers for a long time know how hard Les and Paula have worked for the club, as well as the betterment of the entire square dance community.
In selecting this new Caller (couple), River City would like him/her to not quite walk on water, but, as Rocky says, “close to it would be fine”!
We square dancers are a loving (and hopefully, lovable) bunch, and in my opinion, tougher than the general population.
That thought occurred to me on a recent Sunday afternoon, when Rocky and I joined a special bus load of dancers to celebrate the sixteenth birthday of the Whirlaways in Springfield. It’s always a special treat to dance to “The Crew”, when you can catch them.
Doing a little calculation to figure the age of this talented group, you realize they’re not young roosters anymore, good as they sound. To keep out of trouble, I’ll list them in alphabetical order: Darrel Clendenin; Randy Dibble; Jim Hattrick; and Les Seeley. Yvonne Clendenin, their young “chick”, perfected the performance with her cues. It was a fabulous, spirited dance.
Those who know them realize there are some serious challenges among these folks, but the love pours out from them…true “tough love”; in the spirit of the “show must go on”.
The same goes for our dancers. I won’t mention their names, but a certain long married couple left the bus that day with some of us for a Costco lunch. The gentleman stepped from the curb and did a total “face plant” to the adjoining pavement, some eight inches below, taking his wife with him.
Dancers attended to them quickly and called 911. The couple were transported to the local ER where they were checked out, stitched up, and returned to the end of the dance: bloody and bruised, but still smiling and ready to dance the last couple of tips.
We love Square Dancers, and include in that, the entire Square Dance Community.
We welcome couples and singles. We make sure everyone get to dance.
We are dark June 18th to support the GoldDiggers Dance in Yreka, CA and July 2nd to celebrate Independence Day weekend.
Our next dance is July 16th, and will truly be a wonderful party!!! We have special guest caller Eric Henerlau and cuer Dan Drumheller; both from CA. Advanced dancing starts at 6pm; Pre-Rounds at 7:30pm & Mainstream w/Plus tips from 8-10:30pm. We hope to have lots of our dancing friends come and enjoy this special dance.
The following week is the always enjoyable Diamond Lake Festival hosted by The Star Promenaders, featuring Jet Roberts & MaryAnn Callahan.
See you in a square!
The 2016 Summer Festival, “Seaside Beach Party”, hosted by the TVC, will be July 29th through 31st at the Seaside Convention Center. The featured caller is Andy Allemao from California, and the featured cuer will be Dave and Patty Cooper. Additional calling by “The Crew”.
The next TVC event will be our annual Hahn Barn Dance on Sunday, August 21st. There will be a potluck picnic by the lake at 5:30 PM preceding the dance in the barn. There will more details in future editions of the OFN.
Ferrous Steinka
Our own Jim Hattrick will be calling on the 23rd. We are continuing with lessons on Tuesday evenings at 7 PM with five new dancers recently joining our club. Jim workshops the students from wherever their skill level is so if anyone feels the need to hone their skills, this is the time and place to do it.
Our 5/28 "Great Balls of Fur" dance was very successful with 9 squares and lots of dog and cat food donated to Second Chance Companion's AniMeal's program.
Also, we are planning a clothing resale, and will be advertising as soon as the details are worked out. See you in a square.
Nick Johnson and Nancy Smith
NOTE CHANGE: June 27th our dance will be at the Aloha Grange because The Sunset Presbyterian Church is unavailable.
BIG NEWS! We will NOT be dancing on Monday, July 4th. Normally we dance on all holidays but we will be dark to allow time with families and parades. Also, the Church is not available.
The following officers were elected and were installed June 4th: Chief Dam Builder, Sally Duyck; Assistant Dam Builder, Karen and Ferrous Steinka; Thumper, Leslie Tallman; Gnawer, Mike Duyck; and TVC Representative, Kay Rogers.
Plus Classes are continuing and students are making excellent progress. We will keep going until the dancers feel confident they can dance anywhere with different callers. Special thanks to those who show up to angel and bring in snacks for all to enjoy.
Our annual picnic at Noble Woods Park is planned for August 10th. It is potluck lunch with games and lots of conversation. All are welcome.
All plus dancers are invited to dance with us on Monday afternoons: Rounds 1:00 - 1:30 (Rounds will start at 1:15 during lessons); Plus 1:30 - 3:15 PM, Sunset Presbyterian Church, 14986 NW Cornell Road in Beaverton. We dance on most holidays too so if you have a day off come join us.
Please check for up to date information at www.eagerbeavers.info or OFN website: http://ofn.club.
Rachel Nettleton
The 2016 Hoedowner Beach Trip was one for the record books; the perfect combination of weather, location, housing, food, hilarity, and most importantly the amazing participants. Friday afternoon the group began to assemble at Hillcrest House on a sunny 70 degree day. The planned activities began with “Stump the Chump” a game of talent and chance featuring nails and a hammer. Were the experienced carpenters and builders dominating? Heck no, Nancy Oswald and Marci Yoder were the two winners.
As is customary with Hoedowner dining the table was piled high for the Appetizer Buffet. After dinner we walked the half block to the Prom and beach to enjoy a spectacular Oregon sunset. It was one of those perfect evenings with the sky turning from yellow to pink to purple, the air perfectly still, the air balmy. The spacious living room accommodated everyone as we frittered the last of the day away and planned for the clamming Saturday morning.
Since low tide was at 9 we decided to assemble at 7 am to head for the beach. We were stunned to find that the beach was crowded with an amazing number of clammers who obviously felt 7 was late. We just headed due west towards the water line with shovels, clam guns, buckets and bags in hand. Someone mentioned it looked like D-Day with all the holes already dug in the beach but we had no trouble at all finding those sneaky mollusks. Norm Yoder, Donnie Laas, Chet Wolter and Larry Seimer did most of the digging with others giving it a try. Darlene Ditsworth was down in the water collecting sand dollars, while the rest spotted, collected, counted, and rinsed clams. No one came home clean or empty handed. Everyone got their limit of 15 and we estimate we had 16 clammers….gosh that means we had over 200 clams to clean. Cleaning? With the help of our advisor Don from Hillcrest, we had an assembly line that would make Henry Ford proud. We were opening, trimming, rinsing, cleaning, hauling water and photographing the most beautiful clams you’ve seen. We even had a bit of an audience assemble to watch. Gosh we were good!
The rest of the day was spent at our leisure, shopping, walking and experiencing a lovely day at the beach. A heated game of Bocce Ball was played on the back lawn and a couple of hands of Canasta on the deck as well. We all gathered back at Hillcrest house for our barbeque/clam feed and to give the Blazer fans a chance to watch the game. Speaking of games our “100 Things” scavenger hunt results were revealed. Did we expect anyone to approach the full 100? Well, no, but Pat Wolter and Carol Hammill found 99. Doug Morgan and Chris Stove came in second with 72. Now there was some creative entries, ask Doug about his “bathing beauty” photo and both groups were creative in their interpretation of “bird on a fence” and Pat and Carol even found the Mill Ponds which I thought would be impossible. As the evening wound down, the Bling Thing crew set up in the kitchen and adorned Hoedowner t-shirts, jackets, and sweats with rhinestones and silver studs.
Sunday morning found everyone up and thanks to the great crew at Hillcrest we simply packed our things and departed for other Mother’s Day festivities. The consensus from everyone was that we need to do it again next year.
May 14th was our Fiesta Dance, Ole! Thanks to Roger Putzler for subbing for Daryl who was still waiting on MRI results. Everyone loves the lively music from south of the border and Roger kept our feet moving. My energy level began to lag for the last two tips but Roger turned up the fun and excitement and we were whirling and laughing up until the last tip.
While Daryl recovered from his back surgery, Darrell Kalmbach called our Red, White and Blue Dance on the 28th. Daryl is back on stage and behaving like his usual self, teasing, hugging and calling great square dance music.
Hope to see you on July 9th for our annual Hawaiian Luau Dance. I’ll bet you’ll be enjoying Hawaiian food while our air conditioning keeps the tropical breezes blowing and on July 23rd we’ll be serving Root Beer Floats. I always enjoyed mine delivered on a tray by a roller skating waitress but that experience is hard to find in 2016 but you never know!
Krystal Laas
As this is being written the forecast is for weather in the 90s on our dance night. I hope that everyone is keeping an eye on our website for cancellations due to difficult temperatures.
Patty Bonney
July 13th will be our Denim Dance with guest caller Steve Noseck and on the 27th Hot Summer Nights. August 10th is our Hawaiian Dance and then it’s back to school dance time on August 24th.
For more information about the R Square D club please visit our website at www.r-square-d.info or friend us on Facebook. The Caller for R Square D is Craig Abercrombie and our cuer is Lonnie Sycks.
Marie Geisler
Friday the 13th we visited the R Square D Club in Kelso, WA. Craig Abercrombie called a good dance and Ken Pratt guest cued that night, as the club cuer Lonnie Sycks was on a cruise.
Our May 21st dance, club caller Mike Stout was back and we danced plus from 7:00 until 8:00 with intermediate rounds with Ken. Then from 8:00 until 10:00 we danced Mainstream with our break afterwards. It was a fun dance with several visitors.
Please come visit us on first or third Saturday; we have a nice wood floor, air-conditioning, nice dining room for our break, street parking and if it is busy we have a bank across the street with a parking lot behind.
Our Plus dances were Thursday May 5th and 19th with Darrell Kalmbach calling and Ken Pratt cueing. We had a good turn out with a bunch of visitors.
July 2nd will be our Hot Diggity Dog Dance and July 16th will be a regular dance, both with our club caller and cuer. Plus 7:00 to 8:00. Mainstream 8:00 to 10:00
July 7th and July 21st are our Thursdays Plus dances with Darrell and Ken. The times are 7:00 until 7:30 Intermediate Rounds, 7:30 to 9:30 is all Plus Dance. For anyone not familiar to us we dance in the Hillsboro IOOF Hall at 267 E. Main St.
Janice & Tom Sminia
KC and Linda gave us the best time for our Mystery Trip. We drove to the east side of town, had an excellent dinner together at Xavier’s out in Gresham, given $ to go buy canned food to take to the SnoCap Food Bank Organization of Gresham. Took a dance swirl or two at their facility, leaving our canned goods and drove on over to River City Dancers, ending our time dancing with new and old friends. What a great Mystery Trip KC and Linda.
I wanted to mention we have made one change for our 2nd dance of the month. We have pre-plus at the beginning of our dance and changed the time for a plus tip to earlier in the evening instead of right before the break and have found more folks joining in with us.
River City Dancers came on June 3rd, bringing much fun and enthusiasm with them for their visitation of the month.
On our dance July 1st, we will celebrate KC’s birthday. It’s always a fun evening starting out with a BBQ at 6:30 p.m. downstairs at the grange and dancing away the evening to great music with KC and Bev leading the way.
Join us Aug. 5th for our Hot August Nights Dance with all singing calls from KC. See you in a Square.
Pat Olson
The Tri Squares has decided to go dark during the months of July and August due to the heat. Instead, we will be visiting other local clubs. Visitations will mainly be clubs win the TVC area. We’re looking forward to dancing with all of our friends this summer.
On another note, we’re very proud of our club cuer Sandra Pinion. Sandra has been pursuing college and faithfully serving our club. She has finished her Bachelor’s Degree and will be teaching in her local community next fall. Congratulations Sandra!
Leslie Woodland
Janienne Alexander
Visitations are wonderful ways of building friendships between clubs. In the lighter, longer summer hours, Valley Squares plans to visit clubs that involve a longer commute. We ended May by crossing the river and capturing a flag from Columbia River Dancers. They advertise that "Singles are welcome" and promise that "everyone will dance". They definitely lived up to their promise and we had a wonderful time dancing to the amazing, energetic Jim Hattrick. So many dancers - especially new dancers - do not have partners and so, once lessons are over, get left on the sidelines. At Valley Squares, we encourage our dancers to learn both positions, so if you just want to dance, have fun, and are not freaked out by dancing with someone of the same gender, our club is also a great place to get in floor time.
Our class graduated and celebrated with a Jamboree May 22nd. We have been encouraging new dancers in the area to join us for the first hour of our Saturday dances and had a decent turnout in May. Not only our new graduates, but folks from Columbia River, Oaky Doaks, Sunset Promenaders, Tri-Squares, Tualatin Timbers, Rosetown Ramblers and Hoedowners joined us May 7th and 21st. Such energy! Thanks to the folks from those clubs who encourage their new dancers to try these events out, and even warmer thanks to those of you who accompany them to support them in their squares. A familiar friendly face makes the adventure less daunting. The Saturday dances are progressive, so the tips get more challenging throughout the night.
We ended the month by starting another Basics class. More families are trying out Oregon's State Dance and it is fun to see the kids master the steps and build cross-generational friendships.
Patt Hawthorne
Our “County Fair Dance” which is held on the last day of the Tillamook County Fair, Saturday, August 13th will have caller Darrell Kalmbach and cuer Connie Clark; Connie will also be cueing at the “Elvis Dance” Saturday, Sept. 10th, with caller Mark Wheeler as Elvis. (The September dance is also the Club’s Anniversary Dance). And, the last dance of the 2016 season -- a “Fall Dance” Saturday, Oct. 8th will have club caller Joe Wrabek and line dancing with Gwen Kiel.
The Wave Steppers will be putting on a square dance and clogging demonstration at the Tillamook County Fair, on Senior Day, Thursday, August 11th, from 12:15 to 1 pm on the county fair’s Courtyard Stage. Club caller Joe Wrabek and clogging instructor Gwen Kiel will choreograph the dancers.
The Wave Steppers’ free square dance classes continue on Wednesdays, 6 to 8 pm at the Tillamook Elks Lodge, 1907 Third St. in downtown Tillamook. The club has also been providing angels to the Hayshakers’ square dance classes in Warrenton.
Joe Wrabek
We celebrated our 64th birthday in April with Dale Roberson calling and Neil Koozer as our cuer. We had about eight squares out on the floor enjoying our Disney themed party! We also had our “After Taxes Dance” in April which was a lot of fun. In May, we had a regular dance on the 7th and our “Red, White, and Blue” dance on the 21st.
We had a large group of mainstream dancers graduate on May 19th. We are excited to see them doing so well out on the dance floor. We hope this is just the beginning of many enjoyable years of dancing for them. Our plus graduation is coming up in June, but the group is doing an outstanding job and are ready to try their skills in plus tips at the Round Up.
We are planning a camp out in Port Orford for the end of June. The club there is having their birthday dance that we will be participating in. We will be dark in July, but hope to see everyone at Diamond Lake and at the Summer Festival in Seaside.
Happy Dancing,
Robin Faltersack