Mid-Winter has come and gone by with a good weekend for all. Spring lessons are in progress and hopefully doing well for those clubs and students involved.
I attended the memorial service for Harold Kleve. He is now calling for the big square in the sky and sharing his yodeling talents with those who went before him. Love the crowds he will call for and will await any of us who come after him. Not any time soon though.
I am preparing my heart for another funeral in the future. Our matriarch of the Oregon Federation, Genevieve Churchill, is not doing well under hospice care. She is not expected to make it to the end of February. I will miss her and so will a ton of other people who know her and love her. At 105 years of age, she has lived a wonderful, exciting life in her travels across the United States in her little station wagon. Oh, if that car could talk. What history of square dance we would all learn from her. My wish for her is to be comfortable and not in any pain.
The ballots for voting for Federation officers will be in the mail by March 1 and are due back by May 1. Please encourage your club to take the time to do the voting and send back on time.
Another reminder is to be thinking of who you would like to nominate for the Randall Award. The new nominations are due back to the past president, Kay Rogers, by Summer Festival. You have time to think about whom is worthy of the award and time to gather the information needed to fill out the form. Always fun to see who is nominated and what all they have done for square dance.
Hopefully I will see you in a square somewhere soon in my travels around the state.
Marilyn Schmit
President
It's time for the election of Federation officers again. Please notice the link in the "Federation Events" section to see a brief biography of the candidates for office. These people have kindly volunteered to give of their time to help keep square dancing alive and vital in our state.
We have an advertisement this month from a woman who is trying to sell a large collection of square dance attire. Be sure to give it a look. Her contact information is embedded.
We also have a wonderful articles on retaining young dancers from the Federation's Youth Activities Coordinator, Karyn Buchheit. This is an important article that deserves to be spread around our community.
I have a question for you all. I'm sure you've all seen the "Special Dances" section below. So far, I have not refused any request to mark a dance as "special", but there's a danger. When every dance is special, then NO dance is special. Is the list getting too long? Do I need to set a quota of so many special dances per year? Or is it working just fine? Your feedback is always welcome.
Click here to find out how to get your information into the OFN, including dances, lessons, photos, flyers, advertisements, and caller/cuer information.
We have set up an email mailing list to notify people when a new edition of the online OFN is available, and for other important news about the OFN. To subscribe to this mailing list, just fill out this information:
The next Federation meeting will be May 7, at the Buckaroo Barn in Roseburg.
At this meeting, we will count the ballots for Federation 2017-2018 officers. The ballots are in the mail now. You may the nominee's information by clicking here.
Oregon's 2017 Summer Festival will be held at Blanchet School in Salem, July 14 to 16, 2017. Click here to fetch your registration form.
Start planning for Mid Winter-Festival 2018, January 26, 27 and 28, 2018.
On April 2, the Oregon Federation of Square and Round Dance Clubs and its Youth Activities Coordinator Karyn Buchheit will be hosting a Youth Educational Scholarship Benefit Dance at the Maplewood Grange. KC Curtis will be calling the dance with Tami Helms cueing. The benefit will start with a baked potato bar dinner at 4:00 pm, followed by a mainstream dance from 5:00-7:00 pm. During the dance, we will have a basket raffle and split the pot. We would like to request basket donations from all of the councils and clubs or individuals for the basket raffle. If you need any ideas on what type of items you might provide, please contact me at kathy@4roberts.us. All funds raised from this dance will be donated to the OFSRDC Youth Education Scholarship fund, providing scholarships for graduating high school seniors and college freshmen who are members of OFSRDC clubs and are planning on continuing their education. If you have any questions about the dance or would like to find out where to send monetary donations if you are unable to attend the dance, please contact Karyn Buchheit at buchheitfarmkm@gmail.com.
The 2017 Oregon Summer Festival will be held in Salem this year at the Blanchet Catholic School July 14-16. Johnny Preston is the featured caller. Featured cuers will be Rey & Sherry Garza. If you haven’t purchased your ribbons yet, please click on this link: http://www.squaredance.gen.or.us/content/SummerFestival2017.pdf to print out your registration form and send it in the address on the form. Summer Festival has arranged many special activities that you will not want to miss including a tour of the capitol on Thursday and dancing on the steps of the capitol on Friday. There will also be a youth program during the weekend.
If you haven’t already joined our Federation’s Facebook page, from your FB wall search for “Oregon Federation and Square and Round Dance Clubs” and click the JOIN button so you can post your club’s flyers and your comments.
Kathy Roberts
Publicity/Education Chairman
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:
March 4 -- Muddy Frogs
March 6 -- Misty Valley Cloggers
March 12 -- Rogue Squares
March 13 -- Central Oregon Council
March 14 -- Golden Squares
March 18 -- ORDTA
March 21 -- Boots & Sandals
March 22 -- Sundown Round Dance Club
March 27 -- Timber Twirlers
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.
Click on the title to see the article.
To the dancers who bought Split-the-Pot tickets, to the clubs and individual who donated a total of 22 baskets and other items for the Raffle at the 2017 Mid-Winter Festival, you did an outstanding job and hopefully are proud of yourselves.
Because of your generosity and creativity, the Festival is richer by $1,990.
Thank You for all your time and effort. It is appreciated.
Harriet Livingston
Special Events Chairman
For those who watched or participated in the Last Square Standing at Mid-Winter – here are the results. We had about 14 squares try to last dancing to Randy Dibble.
First place went to a mixed square of kids and dads from the Silver City Squares and Wesburn Wranglers in Burnaby British Columbia: Caitlyn Brendzy, Nicholas Brendzy, and Ray Brendzy from Wesburn Wranglers; Julia Buchheit, Mathew Buchheit, Petrina Buchheit, Thomas Buchheit and Makayla Hutchison from Silver City Squares.
Second Place went to: Laura Cimolino; Allen Crane; Jim Elliot from Valley River Dancers; Brett Heron from Last Chance Squares in Boise Idaho; Dan Knierim and Debbie Knierim from M & M’s; Donna Krossman-Darling from Country Cut-Ups; and Darlene Wooden from Salem Swingin’ Stars/Last Chance Squares.
Congratulations to both squares for lasting through everything!
Our volunteer judges were Janienne Alexander, Christine Brendzy, Karyn Buchheit, Dian Forster, Mark Forster, Manuel Machado, Lorri McIntosh, R J Nueske, and Micki Schranz.
Karyn Buchheit
Over the past few years I have heard many people say that there is no need to try to get youth to start square dancing since we lose them after high school. I have also had many people ask how to get youth dancers. These are two very different situations that are very closely connected. A major consideration is that if you don’t get a youth interested and dancing before they start college, you won’t have much chance again until they have graduated. Also, unless we as a community of dancers support a college age dancer there is a very good chance that we will lose them
Let’s address how to get youth dancers first. Your first step is to find some youth who enjoy square dancing. Once you get a few youth, they will bring in more youth. The youth want to have fun and like to dance with other youth. If they can’t dance with other youth at least once in a while, they will quit especially if the older dancers refuse to allow them to be “wild and crazy”. Set aside an area in your hall for an “adventure” square where dancers are allowed to cut in and out; do circle left/right at a run and other fast/fun moves. The youth dancer likes a fast paced dance and wants to add in lots of extras in the way of styling and fancy moves. To try to attract youth, contact school PTA’s, churches, and local home school associations to try to set up demos/mini lessons with them for family nights. Promote dancing as an inexpensive family activity – this is very true compared to many other activities that families can be involved with. Make sure that youth and families can get to dances – often times they can be unsure of their welcome. Offer to meet them at a dance or pick them up. Treat youth dancers the same as you would the adult dancers – be welcoming to all.
In the situation of “losing youth after high school” this is more of the youth going to college rather than losing interest. Youth are facing three difficulties towards dancing at this time if they are in college: time, finances and a feeling of being abandoned by the dancing community.
Time comes first – most college students are full time students which means that they are taking a minimum of 12 credit hours. This is the number of hours they are in a classroom. The colleges use a formula of 2-3 hours study time at home per credit hour which means a student taking the minimum of 12 hours also has 24-36 hours per week spent in study which equals a total of 26-48 hours per week. If they are taking 15 credit hours this expands to a total possible of 45-60 hours per week. Many students also add in a part-time job to help pay for college which takes another 20+ hours a week. For many of these youth, classes are taken during the day with work arranged around the class schedule – which translates into work in the evenings and weekends. This means that at our normal dance times, the college youth dancer is often at work. If there is a special dance or festival coming up, the college youth dancer can often request the time off of work, but there is no guarantee of them getting off.
Finances are next – college is expensive and getting more so each year. I don’t have anyone at a 4-year college yet, but have been informed that students at Oregon State University pay between $20,000 - $22,000 per year for their tuition, fees, books, room and board. Other state/public colleges and universities are close to this range. A private university can double or quadruple this amount. Community Colleges are somewhat cheaper – but it still adds up. I remember 25+ years ago, community colleges had a set fee if you were a full-time student and once you paid that fee, you could take anywhere from 12-19 credit hours for the term. Now the community colleges charge per credit hour. Then you have the class/lab fees, books, additional expenses. Let’s look at Chemeketa Community College for an example since I do have students there. A student taking 15 credit hours per term has tuition of $80 per credit, plus a $14 “universal” fee per credit equaling a cost of $94 per credit hour per term. For 15 credit hours, this equals tuition of $1,410 per term. If the student is taking an on-line course there is a $50 fee charged in addition to the base tuition. Students are told that they can expect a cost of approximately $450 per term for books and supplies. So base costs per term can equal up to $1,860 and when expanded out for a year (3 terms) equals $5,580. This does not include the parking permit fee of $40 for the year and other incidental fees such as library/copying on campus or special equipment for certain classes. To pay for this out of pocket, the youth must work at least 20 hours a week for 29 weeks at minimum wage. If a student is living at home, the parents’ income is taken into consideration for all financial aide, grants, job share, etc. and it doesn’t take much parent income to make a student ineligible for a lot of these. Parental income is used until a student is 25 or 26 years old!
Third, we come to the feeling of abandonment – the college dancer wants to go to dances. When they are unable to do so, they miss the enjoyment, activity, and social community that they have become accustomed to and they miss contact with their dancer friends. If a college youth is working evenings and weekends they may not be able to attend dances due to their work schedule. For example, Thomas’ job at Wilco sometimes requires him to work until their 8:00 pm closing time. With dances starting at 7:30 pm, by the time he gets off of work, comes home, and cleans up he can’t get to a dance much before they would end, so he doesn’t go. If he has a day off and we are going to a dance, he tries to go with us. The dancing community members do talk to the family members of the college dancer – but this isn’t the same as personal contact. The college dancer also gets tired of people asking, “Where have you been, I’ve seen your family”. This dancer is in college and working! Please think about getting contact information for the college dancer and send them a quick email or text. They would love to hear from people they have come to know. They would also like to have a quick encouraging word – classes can be very difficult and the students do get discouraged. If a club and extended dancing community has little or no contact with a college dancer for the 2-8 years needed for their degree, why would the college dancer come back?
It is important for all of us to remember – families and youth are who we need to bring into dancing in order to replace those of us who are aging out due to health, age and mobility. If we don’t get younger dancers, eventually dancing will die out from a lack of dancers. We need to work to attract and keep them – this does mean an effort on the part of every dancer, not just a few families or a few youth. Make dancing enjoyable at lessons, regular dances, special dances and festivals. The more fun we make it, the more we make it attractive to prospective dancers. Make an effort to establish ties with youth and families – this will make it easier to support these dancers. Please remember when you or your family had youth and what you had to do to support them. Our current youth and families do need the same support – sometimes just a smile and a word of encouragement can mean the difference between keeping or losing a dancer.
Karyn Buchheit
State Youth Advisor
(Author grants permission to reproduce this article into other square dance publications.)
Genevieve Churchill, matriarch of Oregon Square Dancing, passed away in her sleep on February 9, 2017. She was 105 years old. She is survived by her son George (Snooks) Powers of California, daughter Cory (Steve) Martin of California/Washington, one sister Juanita Brown-Bolton, Redmond OR, three grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Genevieve Churchill was born in Belleville, IL, on Nov 22, 1911 to Cora Porter McCamment and Walter McCartney. She was the oldest of 6 sisters. She was preceded in death by her parents, 4 sisters- Betty O’Keefe, Fern Green, Floris Loy and June Gilbert, as well as husbands William B. Powers and Robert E. Churchill, and daughter Janet Monahan.
Genevieve worked for Fred Meyer all her life, twice retiring from the company. She was on the relay crew.
She was an avid square dancer. After watching a huge square dance on top of the old Farmer's Market in downtown Portland for Oregon's Centennial in 1959, she decided to take up the hobby. She took a square dance class in 1962, and after more than 50 years danced her last dance in August 2014 at the age of 103. She has many accolades and awards that came from square dancing. She has danced around the world and promoted dancing along the way. She was the president of the Oregon Federation of Square and Round Dance Clubs from 1991 to 1992. She served as a Goodwilll Amassador for the Oregon Federation for 10 years, and was a special ambassador to the Penticton Square Dance Festival in British Columbia. She was a member of many clubs over the years, including Valley Squares and Eager Beavers. She danced in all 50 states, and attended 35 National Square Dance Conventions.
When she was 80 years old, she decided to become a volunteer in the Estate Sales shop of Albertina Kerr. She “retired” from being a volunteer at age 101. She was the longest serving volunteer at 21 years.
Memorial Services are pending and will be announced at a later date.
Margaret Elizabeth (Brock) Pentecost was born May 29, 1925, in Dover, Idaho, to Ursus and Helen Brock. She was the oldest of three daughters, with younger sisters Edith and Mary.
Margaret spent her teenage years in Kinzua, a lumber town in central Oregon, where her father was manager of the Kinzua Lumber Mill. She graduated from Wheeler County High School in 1942 and went to Linfield College for one semester and then on to Whitworth College.
She married her high school sweetheart, Wilbur Pentecost, on March 23, 1945, prior to his shipping out to Okinawa, Japan. They agreed to “change” their names to Dick and Marge (Margie).
Upon his return from the Army, they settled in The Dalles, Ore., where they both worked for her father at The Dalles Lumber Mill. After their daughter Gay and son Rick were born, in the early 1950’s, they moved to their farm out on Seven Mile Hill Road in 1956 and lived there for 49 years.
They began square dancing in the late 1940’s and continued on, with Dick as caller and Marge as cuer for several clubs in the local area.
Marge went back to work after the kids were in school, working for Dr. John Gilhousen as a secretary/transcriptionist until he retired, and then she was employed by the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Ore. until she retired.
She was a member of the Fort Dalles Riders’ Club, Swap and Swing Square Dance Club, Christian Women’s Association, and Calvary Baptist Church.
They moved from their farm into Flagstone Senior Living in January, 2007. Dick passed away in 2010 after 65 years of marriage.
Marge is survived by her sisters Edith Mulholland, her four children and spouses, numerous grand and great-grandchildren, Mary Marsden, her two sons and families; her niece Barbara (Wayne) on the Pentecost side of the family and her own children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren; daughter Gay Hall-Pentecost; sons David (Lynn) and Dan (Natalie) and five great-grandchildren, Rick (Leslie) and children, Eric (Sarah), Ted (Brandi) and Beth (Aaron) Foster and four great-grandchildren.
Download a list of callers and cuers who are available and ready to call or cue a dance for you.
March's Classic Oregon Round of the Month is "Rooney", Phase II Two-Step, choreographed by Ron and Georgine Woolcock. This classic was chosen by the ORDTA. Download your cue sheet here.
For more information on the Round of the Month, please contact .
Everything in this section is taken from the state directory information. If you find that your class information is wrong, you can fix that by going to the directory information area and picking to the "Lessons" tab.
March 5 (1st Sun)
March 11 (2nd Sat)
March 24 (4th Fri)
March 26 (4th Sun)
April 1 (1st Sat)
April 2 (1st Sun)
April 8 (2nd Sat)
April 11 (2nd Tue)
April 23 (4th Sun)
April 26 (4th Wed)
April 28 (4th Fri)
April 28 (4th Fri)
April 30 (5th Sun)
May 6 (1st Sat)
May 6 (1st Sat)
May 21 (3rd Sun)
May 26 (4th Fri)
June 9 (2nd Fri)
June 11 (2nd Sun)
June 18 (3rd Sun)
August 11 (2nd Fri)Click a thumbnail to download the flyer.
Please support our advertisers, since they help support the magazine. Click a thumbnail to see the full advertisement.
Click a thumbnail to see the full-sized picture.
Click a council name to go directly to that section.
March 4 (1st Sat)
March 18 (3rd Sat)
March 11 (2nd Sat)
Hope to see you all there joining us for some FUN dancing with callers and cuers from our CCCA membership. All dances at the Emerald Dance Center, 2095 Yolanda in Springfield.
Happy dancing!
Christina Corelli, Secretary, CCCA
Our March 10th dance with Jim Hattrick will get a little Irish twist. We will have our baked potato feed at the break with all sorts of yummy goodies to put on the hot potatoes. If you attend, feel free to bring your own favorite toppings. We can never have enough of a good thing. On March 24th, the fourth Friday dance, will feature caller KC Curtis for the evening.
Sumitted by Shirley Marc
We've had a number of opportunities to dance to the fine calling of national caller, Kris Jensen, from Albuquerque. Kris and Kurt's mom now lives in Eugene, moving up from Medford.
We are blessed to have our own Tim Matteson who calls and teaches all levels. We invite all dancers to join us most Sunday evenings from 5:30 - 8:00. Please call our president, David, to confirm. 541-521-7311
Keep on dancing!
Christina Corelli, Member-at-large
Spin Cycle Squares
We celebrated our 19th Birthday with a fun dance on Saturday, February 4th. So nice to see and visit with all the friends who came. Sandy called a great dance, Christina cued, and we even had one tip with Larry calling.
We are going dark in March to allow the Emerald Square Dance Center to rent the Hall to a private party for the day. That means you will have to wait until April to dance with us.
Lessons on Tuesday nights are going well. Bad weather and illness were a problem for a while but it's starting to get back to normal.
Submitted by A. Wolf
March 18 (3rd Sat)
March 10 (2nd Fri)
March 11 (2nd Sat)
March 25 (4th Sat)Come and enjoy our Birthday Dance on the 11th of March at the Polk County Fairgrounds. The club provides cake and ice cream, after all what would a Birthday Party be without cake and ice cream?
In April we will be having two special dances. Look for the information and flyers for these dances in the next month issue of the OFN. We are also planning our annual Koast Krash with the theme of Wizard of Oz. More information about this function will also be in next month’s OFN. Happy Dancing. Linda Neuschwander
Then many of our members attended the Mid Winter Festival. One of the highlights of the event was the Grand March. Our club was very proud of the four men from the Lebanon American Legion Post 51 who presented the flags and were also members of the Lebanon Square Circlers --John Frenzel, Nick Heineck, Jerry Masog, and Fred Schaefer. During the weekend our club gathered for dinner at Pop's Branding Iron. So much fun!
On February 4 our club had its New Dancers Dance which had been postponed due to inclement weather. It was also a “Fifties" dance and there were lots of poodle skirts. Great dance!
Now our club is electing new officers and getting ready for Strawberry Festival. Please mark your calendar for the first weekend of June and come dance and have fun with us. See you in a square! Marilyn York
March 4 (1st Sat)
March 18 (3rd Sat)Now we will spend the spring just doing some dancing and workshopping various trouble spots in dances, dancing to favorites and to the music presented at Mid-Winter by the Parkers. Now we can look forward to Rey and Sherry Garza for Summer Festival in Salem.
It will soon be time for officer elections and paying dues to the club. We welcome new members any time and will offer opportunities for club members to run for office.
Cheryl has given us some dates that she will be gone for various family events and the ICBDA convention. We will be in the process of finding cuers to fill in for her. Stay tuned to find out who will come to give us a variety of dancing music to get our exercise on. Marilyn Schmit
February brought us our regular dances on the first and third Fridays of the month. We wore RED to raise awareness of Heart Disease in Women on February 3 for National Wear Red Day.
March is a busy month for us with two theme dances and our 5th Friday Plus Dance on March 31. Join us for a steaming bowl of Hobo Stew on March 3 at our HOBO Dance. The committee has been extra busy creating cool decorations. On March 17 wear your GREEN to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Everyone in attendance will receive a special button.
Our caller is Randy Dibble and our cuer is Jeanine Norden. Pre-Rounds begin at 7:00 pm, Plus at 7:30 pm, Mainstream with Rounds 8:00-10:15 pm followed by a final Plus tip for our regular dances.
Plus Dance: Pre-Rounds 7:00 pm. Advanced at 7:30 pm. Plus with Rounds 8:00-10:15 pm followed by a final Advanced Tip. See you on the Dance Floor. Sheila Machado
We are starting our practices for competition and working hard. My sister Julia has decided that she wants to try to compete in cueing this year so we will have someone competing in almost every category!!!! We are selling raffle tickets as well as the festival pins - please catch one of us if we don't ask you first. Our fundraiser dance is on Friday, March 24 and mom has promised an overnight youth party after the fundraiser. Please plan to come and help us. Petrina Buchheit
March 24 (4th Fri)
March 3 (1st Fri)
March 17 (3rd Fri)
Welcome home to our caller Randy Dibble from a gig calling for a Valentine's Day sweetheart dance in San Jose. Color us lucky...their door was $18 while ours is $5 (and no, that didn't include dinner)!
Our lessons are off to a great start; beginners accepted on the 21st and 28th so tell your friends it's not too late.
Our club met recently to discuss whether to continue with lessons. We need to have enough students and angels who will be able to make a commitment for the session. Unfortunately our numbers have been down, so we will re-evaluate whether we will be offering more classes at this time.
Our club president has been in the hospital. Decisions need to be made regarding how to proceed with his treatment. We wish John well and a favorable outcome. Jodee
March 31 (5th Fri)
Flory Flounce
March 1 (1st Wed)
February was a fun month with our pie eating contest. The winner for 2017 is Anthony Egon from the Floor Dusters. We had planned have our new dancer class graduate on February 12th but we had to cancel several classes due to snow, super bowl and midwinter so we are looking towards mid-March.
We have started the search for a new Cuer now that Debbie Combs has retired. We welcome Doug hatch as our cuer on 3/4 and Julie Stiers on 3/18. The theme for our 3/18 dance is "Flying high" and we will decorate with Kites and have Irish Sundays for the break. Looking ahead to April, we are hot and heavy into the planning mode for our 59th anniversary. We will be celebrating the anniversary at our April 13th dance and Patty Herman will be our cuer. We are excited to have Roger Putzler join K.C. Curtis to do the calling that night. Plan to join us.
We are planning to start another Mainstream Class March 2nd, on the heels of graduating about a dozen new students at the end of February. We want them to come back as angels and solidify their skills and get a new crop of dancers started. Scott Zinser will be teaching and we will continue to meet on Thursday nights at the Boring Barn from 7:30 to 9:30 PM.
We are gearing up for our Annual Barn Sale on April 7th and 8th. We are accepting donations now. Doing some spring cleaning and don’t want to do a garage sale? Give us a call.
It has been fun visiting clubs who dance on the 3rd Saturday since we changed our schedule. We visited the Happy Hoppers in January, and the Oaky Doaks in February. We will be going to the Valley Squares in Aloha this month. We will be holding elections in March at our General Meeting. This past year has gone by quickly!
Keep on dancing!
Beverly De La Bruere
March 4 (1st Sat)
March 25 (4th Sat)
March 26 (4th Sun)
Our teacher, Jim Hattrick, is well known as a premier educator. Square dance lessons for new beginners will start on Monday, March 6th at the Clark County Square Dance Center. We work hard to make our education program a comfortable environment for students. Many of our club members volunteer as "Angels" to help make it an easy and productive experience. Every Monday, Plus lessons will be given at 6:30, Basic lessons start at 7:30, and Mainstream lessons are available at 9:00. We are committed to serving both beginners and continuing students with our lesson format.
We will have our regular Plus dances on the first and third Saturdays of the month at the Clark County Square Dance Center, with our club caller/cuer, Jim Hattrick. For March, it's the 4th and the 18th. The 4th is our annual "Irish Potato Dance". Baked potatoes for everybody, with all the toppings! Pre-rounds start at 7:30, with squares at 8:00.
Marc Kahn
March 4 (1st Sat)
March 18 (3rd Sat)
Winter even allowed us to go to Albany for the Mid-winter festival and dance to the Mike Seastrom and Hunter Keller as well as several of our caller friends such as our own Mike Halley. Those who enjoy the round dance were entertained by the cuing of Sharon and Casey Parker plus our cuer friends such as the Oaky Doaks’ cuer Helen Halley.
Even though Winter started February by denying us once again another No Experience Dance night he did show his soft side for animals by letting us hold our “Reigning Cats and Dogs” dance where we got together to support the AniMeals program with donations of cat and dog food. This year’s “winner” for the most pounds of donated food was once again the cats.
At the time of this writing we are looking to finally having a No Experience Dance and the chance to start the lessons following. As well as our Valentine’s Dance on the third Saturday of February, “Breaking Up is Hard to Do”.
Even though March comes in like a lion, we are confident that it will allow us to meet for our Thursday night lessons, our “FIESTA” dinner and dance on Saturday, March 4th, and the “Irish Spring” dance on Saturday, March 18th, because what would the month be if we didn’t “Add a little Irish to our Game”.
So come join us as we shake off the Winter blues and put on our Spring greens.
See you on the dance floor.
March 4 (1st Sat)
March 18 (3rd Sat)
Knowing Les for so long, as I do, I anticipate that his retirement will be of a semi state, because he is the kind of guy who is always doing a project of some kind, and I am sure he will be invited to guest call in their new home state of Arizona, and that’s OK, because we want them to continue with a good life, and return healthy and happy to guest call around the “frozen” tundra of the north as he has promised, here at River City.
River City Dancers will be facing some big changes, but I’m sure that our President Couple, Larry and Penny Crow and their Board, along with our membership, the future will continue to be bright. I plan to have news about our changes in next month’s report. In the meantime, Renee’ Rudd has graciously offered to teach “make-up” lessons for the four days that have been missed during our ice and snow cancelled Sundays.
A couple of other changes that we sadly face are the loss of two of our beloved couples for multiple reasons: they are Jim and Nita Jenkins; plus Julius Smith and his partner, Phyllis Baldwin.
We tremendously enjoyed our New Year’s Eve Mardi Gras Dance, headed by Nancy and Keith Day, Barbara and David Schmidt; and catered byTop of the Hill Restaurant, located south of Canby.
River City Dancers all enjoyed MidWinter Festival in Albany at the end of January. We appreciate the hard work, dedication, and talent of those who put it on. Thank You!
Now for a couple of “grumbles” on my part.
1.) Parking at MidWinter was awful, particularly Saturday evening. No doubt we had to walk a good half mile in the dark, in the rain, and on the gravel, because the lot was so full, I would say primarily because of the “Monster Truck” rally that same night. We noted that many of the presumed attendees also drove monster, beautiful pickups, where a single truck occupied two or three spaces. Possibly they don’t trust their fellows to respect their door spaces. In any case, if this happens again, I suggest that Linn County recruit or hire a “parker” so parking will not be so wasteful, or schedule the Monster Trucks or other such popular events at another time.
2.) Rocky and I just came home from the third dance with an empty parking lot that had been cancelled at the last minute this last month, including our own dance. Of course, we were all dressed up, etc. I’m not criticizing the cancellation itself, because good sense and caution prevailed and I’m good with that. In these days of superb communication, however, I believe we need to establish a better mechanism for last minute, immediate communication, because the situations can so numerous; everything from snow to excessive heat to caller illness to broken pipes or furnaces. I am thinking perhaps a Facebook page, coded so hackers cannot access it, that club officers could post such non-events the very latest. I personally know email is not a good option, as I am one of those people who get dozens every day and often don’t have much time to scroll through a bunch of junk before we leave.
Grumble! Grumble! There, I’ve said it all. Thanks all, for listening.
With that, many hugs! Hope to see you soon in a square!
Nancy Thornton
March 18 (3rd Sat)
March 24 (4th Fri)
It was fantastic that the Winter Festival had good weather. The club members that went had a great time.
We had a good time at our 1st Saturday dance in February with about 3 squares in attendance. We are getting ready for a wonderful time Saturday February 18 at our Dance Down The Red Carpet Dance with special guest cuer Mark McDonald. Promises to be lots of fun.
March 4 is our March Away The Blue MS/Plus dance with Ray calling and Mary Nutt cueing. March 18th is our Awkward Moments Plus/A1 Dance. Ray is out of town, so we have Wayne Weaver to help us through those awkward moments; as well as Bob Dingman providing the rounds.
The Boatnik Committee is hard at work planning for the Festival Memorial Weekend; be sure to get your ribbon before the price goes up May 1st. This is a wonderful weekend full of fun and laughter. We have Hunter Keller on squares and Randy Lewis on rounds. You don't want to miss the party. You can buy ribbons online at http://www.charliebrownsquares.com/Dance_Boatnik.php.
On another note, the Charlie's are looking for their banners and want to come to your dance to get them back. If you have one of our banners; please let us know!!! Contact one of the officers to let us know!!!
I hope the weather finally is straightening out and no more dances are cancelled!!
Here's to a great spring of dancing and friendship.
See you in a square!!
March 4 (1st Sat)
March 18 (3rd Sat)The next Council event will be "Sunday Afternoon Delight", dance on March 5th at the Sunset Presbyterian Church from 2:00 to 4:30. Gary Shoemake will be calling and Yvonne Clendenin cueing. Gary is a popular International Caller and this will be a very special treat for us. See the flyer below or on the Federation Facebook page. The Sunset Presbyterian Church is located west of Sunset High School at 14986 NW Cornell Rd Beaverton, OR 97229. Use the East entrance and parking lot.
Ferrous Steinka
March 5 (1st Sun)The other bit of bad news was that the Hazel Dell Grange ended up with two feet of water in the basement when the snow melted so anyone going downstairs for treats would have had to wear waders.
It was bad news that my wife and I had to stay home from Mid-Winter this year. The good news is my wife received her new hip on the January 30th. She is looking forward to dancing again soon. She said it could not come soon enough.
More good news is that we are more or less back to normal. Our classes are progressing fast, thanks to all of the angels who are there every Tuesday to guide the newbies through the calls. A new class starts on the first Tuesday evening each month.
The other good news is we are getting ready to celebrate our 2nd anniversary in March. Adam Christman is coming over from Spokane to do the calling that evening so be sure to mark March 11th on your calendar. Remember that we dance plus from 7 to 8 and mainstream from 8 on. Our goal is to make sure everyone who attends gets to dance; therefore, we encourage singles to attend as well as couples.
See you in a square.
Nick Johnson
March 11 (2nd Sat)MidWinter Festival was enjoyed by a total of 34 Eager Beavers members including our club callers. Festival featured callers Mike Seastrom and Hunter Keller were excellent as were the cuers, Sharon and Casey Parker. There were some guest callers as well as The Crew who filled the Plus hall during their hour. There was a Last Square Standing event which showed we mostly dance for fun, not to execute every call perfectly. Then everyone enjoyed a young dancers choreographed demonstration which was breathtaking.
We are not surprised that one member, who certainly deserves the honor, was awarded the TVC Recognition Award for 2016. Congratulations to Nan Overall for her hard work and support of three different clubs: Eager Beavers, Hoedowners, and Sunset Promenaders. She faithfully writes, edits, and delivers the Beaver Log to us every Cookie Day. She also keeps track of and recruits members. Then she often brings snacks and goodies to us. She has been a pillar of the club for more years than I have been dancing. I do not know how she does it all.
Our Plus Lessons are continuing. Now is a good time to join in and brush up on your plus. I have danced for years but I find something new to me at the classes. Class time is 12:00 to 1:15 p.m. For $4 you get a good workout.
Daylight Savings time ends on March 12th so move your clock one hour ahead on Saturday night so you are not late for Sunday events and our Monday dance. St. Patrick’s Day is March 17th so you can wear your green on the 20th which is also the first day of spring. I will be happy to see spring arrive.
Plan ahead to attend the Eager Beaver Anniversary Dance on Sunday, April 23rd, at the IOOF Hall in Hillsboro.
We dance on most holidays. Even if you have a job, you can join us once in a while. Our three callers keep us on our toes as each week one seems to have some new twist to keep our minds sharp. All plus dancers are invited to dance with us on Monday afternoons, 1:15 to 3:00 p.m., at the Sunset Presbyterian Church, 14986 NW Cornell Road in Beaverton. Most holidays we dance at Aloha Grange.
Please check for up to date information at www.eagerbeavers.info or OFN website: http://ofn.club.
Rachel Nettleton
March 6 (1st Mon)
March 6 (1st Mon)Hayshakers are now dancing the 1st Friday's from 6:30 pm. Harvey Hunsucker caller & cuer. Dance is at the Pacific Grange, 90475 Hwy 101, Cullaby Lake, at Warrenton, OR. Be sure to call first to make sure we have enough people for a dance. 503.325.8109, 503.861.2726, 503.325.2100. www.hayshakers.org
Sylvia Davis
January 23rd was the Tualatin Valley Council’s President’s Dinner and much to everyone’s delight our own Nan Overall received the 2016 TVC Recognition Award. We can’t claim all the credit as Nan belongs to Eager Beavers and Sunset Promenaders as well. She’s always ready to dance, always with a smile and, in case you didn’t know, a rabid and aggressive pinochle player. Congratulations Nan.
January 27th thru 29th was the 2017 Shootin’ for the Moon Mid-Winter Festival. This weekend is one of the Hoedowner’s favorites for dancing and social activities. 49 Hoedowners attended part or all of the weekend and I hope I didn’t forget anyone. We kicked off the weekend with dinner Friday night, dancing and a post-party at the Hoedowner Hideaway. Saturday morning the dance floor called our names with side excursions to the Carousal Museum and Hobby Lobby. Saturday evening with dined together again, had a group picture (now that was hard getting everyone in) and another post-function at the Hoedowner Hideaway. It’s a once a year weekend to greet old and new friends, shop a bit and have opportunities to hear our own Daryl and Yvonne Clendenin as well as new callers, new cuers and new music. It was another resounding success and our sincere thanks to the organizing committee.
What’s in the Hoedowner future? On March 11th we’re having our Mr. Potato Head Dance with a baked potato bar to follow. The Potato Head family has spread their wings over the years and has left the modest homburg, mustaches and high heels behind. You can find them decked out in all sorts of outfits; super heroes, mermaids, storm troopers, pirates, moms and dads. We encourage you to come dressed as your favorite Potato Head.
March 25th will be our Spring Fling Dance and aren’t we looking forward to warmer weather, blossoming flowers and blessed sunshine? You bet!
Krystal Laas
March 11 (2nd Sat)
March 25 (4th Sat)We could swap stories about how we coped with the storm. (The top of one of my trees fell on the power line without breaking it.) Those with yards can talk about how many yard debris bins it will take to haul away all the downed trees and branches.
Then we can talk about how much fun it is to be back to dancing, which dances we are looking forward to, and what else is going on in our square dance world. Call your friends to join you on a visit to another club, dance to another caller, another cuer. Make up for those dances you missed. Come visit Mix'nMingles. The welcome mat is always out for you.
We are sorry to report that long time member Ben Youngblood lost his wife.
Patty Bonney
March 4 (1st Sat)
March 18 (3rd Sat)Lessons continue each week and we have started a second group for this year, really good turnouts for plus, basic and mainstream alike. Craig Abercrombie is an amazing teacher, he makes learning fun.
Thanks go out to Dick and Sandy Sims for hosting our monthly meeting at the Senior Center on the 16th.
Hopefully come March, the snow and ice will have settled down so we can all get back to dancing. We bring in the month with a St. Patrick’s Dance on the 10th. Come on out and join us with some luck of the Irish, Pot of Gold, Leprechaun magic and music of our guest caller, Adam Christman.
March 25th welcomes spring with a Spring Fling dance. It’s a benefit dance for a local non-profit in the Longview area, The Progress Center. The Center provides early intervention, education, therapy and prevention to young children birth to age 3 with special developmental needs or with risk of developmental delays. It’s very exciting to be able to provide to a local non-profit. Thank You Square Dancers, it’s nice to be able to have fun for a good cause.
For more information about us please visit our website at www.r-square-d.info or friend us on Facebook. Our Caller for R Square D is Craig Abercrombie and our cuer is Lonnie Sycks.
Marie Geisler
March 10 (2nd Fri)Our March Promenaders Plus dances are on Thursday, March 2nd, and 16th with Darrell Kalmbach calling, and Ken Pratt cueing.
Our Sunset Promenaders mainstream dances are Saturdays March 4th, and 18th with Mike Stout and Ken Pratt calling and cueing and the theme for the dances is “Irish Fling”.
We have changed our times and format a little, now we start the evening with Intermediate Rounds from 7:00 to 7:30, Mainstream Dance 7:30 to 9:30. There will be a Plus Dance tip starting at 9:30.
Our new dancers Mainstream Classes are continuing each Sunday. The classes are closed to new students except for previous dancers wanting to refresh their dancing skills. We want to thank all the Angels for their help in the classes, and also Mike and Julie for the good instruction.
We really enjoy visitors, come visit us some time, we guarantee you a good time. We are located upstairs in the Odd Fellows Hall, 267 East Main Street, Hillsboro, OR 97123. We have two great Callers and a great Cuer, too. Nice wood floor, friendly people, good sound, parking on the street or across the street at Premier Community Bank.
Janice Sminia
March 2 (1st Thu)
March 4 (1st Sat)
March 18 (3rd Sat)We have been dancing up a storm to keep us warmed up for many outstanding dances. The Toes have had fun visitors and you all bring friendships, smiles and much fun to our dances. Thanks for coming out to support us. Fun times were had at Mid-Winter this year. Thanks to everyone that helped make it a memorable dance weekend.
February 3rd is our Heart and Roses Dance with KC calling and Bev cueing. Our first dance of the month has pre-rounds and our second dance of the month has pre-plus. Our dance on the 17th will be a regular dance. Check our website for everything you need to know. The Toes like to keep everyone on their toes with surprises and variety.
March brings on the luck of the Irish. We’ll be kicking up our heels on March 17th with the Luck of the Irish dance. March 3rd is our regular dance. We love our Kinton Grange and we hope to see you at many of our dances. Bev and KC pick out great songs for us, so there is always a fun variety of music to dance to. See you in a Square!!!!
Pat Olson
March 3 (1st Fri)
March 17 (3rd Fri)
March 11 (2nd Sat)
March 24 (4th Fri)Please note our dance dates have changed due to inclement weather in the beginning of the year. Our first dance in 2017 is going to be a trifecta of celebrations! Trophy dance! Anniversary Dance! New Dancer dance! We will be hosting this Grand Trophy Dance April 26th! The club with the highest percentage of membership in attendance will win the trophy! Students of other clubs will be counted towards that club’s percentage. Please encourage your new dancers to come out and support our new dancers and see who wins the trophy! Everyone who comes gets to go home with a dangle.
If you would like to be added to the TTS weekly newsletter to keep up on all of the adventures and where the Banner Bandits are hitting next send an email to OregonSquareDance@gmail.com
Janienne Alexander
Our Celebrate Diversity Dance called by Janienne Alexander and cued by Connie Clark had five squares of folks itching to dance after the hiatus. Thanks to all of our guests, you brought wonderful energy. We were particularly impressed with new dancers from Toe Draggers & Rosetown Ramblers.
Our lessons, taught by Mark Wheeler, started on January 24th. I arrived late from Jefferson and when I walked in, three squares were dancing.
Please attend our March dances on the 1st & 3rd Saturdays. Also the first Saturday in April is our Anniversary Dance called by Scott Zinser & cued by Connie Clark.
Patt Hawthorne
March 4 (1st Sat)
March 18 (3rd Sat)The Wave Steppers’ first dance of 2017, a St. Patrick’s Day dance, will be Saturday, March 11th on the big dance floor at Garibaldi City Hall, 107 6th Street (at Acacia), with club caller Joe Wrabek and the club’s line dance instructor, Gwen Kiel. (That’s the same weekend as the Championship Crab Races, one of the town’s biggest festivals.)
Joe and Gwen will also be doing the club’s Mother’s Day Dance Saturday, May 13th, the County Fair Dance Saturday, August 12th, and the Fall Dance Saturday, October 14th.
Jim Hattrick will be calling and cueing at the Spring Dance Saturday, April 8; Mike Stout will call the Hawaiian Dance Saturday, June 10th, with Hawaiian dancing by cuer Julie Stout; and Harvey Hunsucker will be caller and cuer at the Beach Dance Saturday, July 8th. The Wave Steppers’ anniversary dance Saturday, September 9th will be an Elvis Dance, with caller Mark Wheeler as Elvis, and cuer Connie Clark.
All the club’s dances are held at Garibaldi City Hall (107 6th Street, at Acacia). About two-thirds of the building’s second floor is a dance floor, built in the 1940s by the Fire Department for the old Firemen’s Balls.
Joe Wrabek
March 11 (2nd Sat)Hope to see you at the Barn,
Rita Schuchard
We just graduated 20 new students in mainstream and 17 of them have already joined the club and become official “Buckeroos”! We love the energy and enthusiasm our new members bring to our club. Most of them are already helping out as “angels” at our new lessons which began in January. We currently have 10 new students well on their way to mastering mainstream square dancing!
Every year we honor club members who have gone out of their way to support and encourage the love of square dancing. This year Bruce and Laura Knotts were awarded the “Buckeroo of the Year” plaque. They have worked hard organizing our lessons and supporting our new dancers! Thanks for all you do, Bruce and Laura!
Happy dancing,
Robin Faltersack
March 4 (1st Sat)
March 18 (3rd Sat)
March 11 (2nd Sat)