Thanks for keeping the spirit alive. Some of the callers are having discussion on Facebook on how we bring our activity back once the restrictions are lifted. Many of us will be rusty, and square dancing will certainly not be "top of mind" for the rest of the public.
The table below shows a number of clubs starting lessons in August and September. At this point, it is unlikely that any clubs will actually be starting lessons at that time. I'm leaving the listings here, but you'll need to contact folks to find out for sure.
By the way, I have changed the way lessons are stored. In the past, if you showed lessons starting in September, the system would have your lessons start EVERY September. Now, it will ask you to enter the exact date your lessons begin. That way, I don't display old lesson information any more.
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 Federation held a teleconference on July 12, in lieu of Summer Festival The next Federation meeting will be a teleconference on September 20, where our new officers will take over.
The 2020 Summer Festival, which was to be held at the Seaside Convention Center in Seaside on August 21-23, 2020, had to be canceled, due to the governor's orders on large gatherings.
Oregon's Mid-Winter Festival 2021 will be held January 22, 23 and 24, 2021, at the Linn County Fairgrounds in Albany. At this time, they are still planning to go forward.
The 70th National Square Dance Convention® will be held in Jackson, Mississippi, June 23-26, 2021.
The 71st National Square Dance Convention® will be held in Evansville, Indiana, June 22-25, 2022.
The 72nd National Square Dance Convention® will be held in Mobile, Alabama, June 21-24, 2023.
The 73rd National Square Dance Convention has just been awarded to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for June of 2024.
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:
August 21 -- R Square D
August 23 -- Portland Area Council
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.
The Hayshakers and Sunset Promenaders sadly made the decision to cancel the 20th Annual Seaside Sashay that had been scheduled for October, 2020. With the restrictions imposed due to the Covid 19 Pandemic, it was just not possible to bring all the wonderful dancers together in October. We regret having to make this decision, but will start working on 2021 plans to make the event better than ever! All registrations will be rolled over to 2021 unless you request a refund. Prices for the 2021 Seaside Sashay will be the same as 2020’s and we will be publishing the registration form in a few months. We hope all who are registered for this year’s event will choose to roll over your registration to next year, however if you need to request a refund, please email Joyce Clark at: joyceaclark007@gmail.com or mail a refund request to Joyce & Gary at 1824 SE Quail Circle, Hillsboro, OR 97123.
The Sunset Promenaders are sad to report the loss of their founding cuer, Ruth Canby. After a four month battle with congestive heart failure, Ruth suffered a fatal attack on July 3, 2020. Ruth Cued the Sunset Promenader dances for twenty five years and taught numerous couples to round dance. Ruth was also a popular guest cuer with many clubs in the Willamette Valley and on the Oregon Coast. She was an active member of the Capitol Callers and Cuers association and served as the TVC Cuer Advisor. As a member of the Sunset Promenaders, Ruth not only cued dances, she contributed with decorations, potluck food and kept a series of scrapbooks for the club taking many of the photographs herself. That was in the day when we had to take our film to be developed and Ruth always got two copies, one for the scrapbook and one to be given to the couples pictured. She was a treasured part of the club and continued to attend club events whenever possible so even new members knew Ruth from club picnics and other events.
While Ruth was very busy with Square and Round dancing, she was also active in her church, on several bowling leagues, winning many senior high game and high series trophies, and in her Rebekah and Odd Fellows lodges holding many local and statewide offices. When she wasn’t occupied elsewhere Ruth kept busy with solving crossword puzzles in ink, she read voraciously and had an amazing container garden. She would have been so upset to have missed out since her first tomatoes ripened less than two weeks after her death.
Ruth Canby March 15, 1929 – July 3, 2020
April 2, 1934 – July 16, 2020
Baraba Nell Killebrew moved from Texas to Astoria, Oregon spring of 1964, then in 1972 moved to Canby, Oregon. She also lived in Lake Grove, Milwaukie, Sellwood, Oregon City, Gladstone, Eagle Creek before landing in Aloha for the past 11 years.
With four children in tow, while living in Astoria bowling became a family activity. Her youngest daughter and granddaughter are still active in the bowling activity.
She was very active with the Civil Air Patrol, Oregon Wing for many years. She participated in summer encampments and several search & rescue missions for downed aircraft. All four of her children became cadet members as well, joining her in these activities.
In 1985 she took square dance lessons from the Tigard 59’ers (now part of the Tri-Squares.) She was a member of the Oaky Doaks and Plus Nuts. She moved her membership to the Coast Swingers (now the Wave Steppers) when her oldest daughter became the club caller. Next, she joined the Country Capers (now an inactive club) when her daughter became the club co-caller. When she moved to the Aloha area, she joined the Valley Squares. Until her recent health concerns made it impossible to dance. She worked for the Promenade Square Dance Shop for several years also. She attended many festivals and served on a committee for the 1994 National Square Dance Convention hosted in Portland, OR.
She is survived by four of her five children: Janet Shannon, Tempe, AZ; Jimmy (Kathy) Shannon, Vernonia, OR; Billy (Laurie) Shannon, Curlew, WA; and Shirley (David) Ridley, Casa Grande, AZ. She has three grandchildren; four great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. As well a niece and nephew in Texas.
At this time there is no celebration of life planned.
You can download this list of callers and cuers who are available and ready to call or cue a dance for you.
Callers:
Cuers:
The Blue Mountains Council has chosen the August Oregon Round of the Month: "Down on the Farm", Phase II Two Step, choreographed by Connie Ritchie, music by Tim McGraw. Download your cue sheet here.
For more information on the Round of the Month, please contact .
Please note that, due to the coronavirus, there will probably not be any square dance lessons this fall.
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.
August 21 (3rd Fri)
October 9 (2nd Fri)Click a thumbnail to download the flyer.
Click a thumbnail to see the full-sized picture.
Click a council name to go directly to that section.
August 6 (1st Thu)
August 7 (1st Fri)
We trust everyone is doing what they can to be safe and that everyone is well and healthy.
Our hall in Springfield was closed around March 9 and will remain closed until further notice.
There is nothing at our hall for the month of July that I am aware of. After that, we will see. It's a little difficult to social distance with square dancing.
You can never be too safe with this virus business.
Wishing you all good health,
Christina Corelli, Secretary
Stay well; stay safe.
We’ll see friends in a square when it’s safe to do so.
Gaynor Hintz
Club Reporter
We normally have our club’s annual picnic at Suzanne Peterson’s country home near Eugene in July when the blueberries are ripe for picking, but our club members decided to be prudent and put it off until perhaps September. We will take another poll to see how many want to pack their own picnic and sit out under the beautiful shade trees and talk. The property is always lovely but many of the summer flowers will be gone of course. Still it would be fun to see those who want to come socialize for a while.
Gaynor Hintz
Club Reporter and Vice President
We learned that Patrick and his dog, Molly, made it to Wisconsin where Patrick has family. Unfortunately, Molly, Patrick's dog, passed away. She had fluid in her lungs and was in pain. We are so sorry that Patrick lost both his big dogs. One died here in Oregon before the move and Molly after that.
We are continuing to rent the parking lot at the dance hall for a short visit on Sundays. We back our vehicles in a huge circle and either sit on our tailgates or bring a lawn chair. We can visit and see each other and maintain a safe distance. It works.
Stay safe and healthy,
Christina Corelli
Member-At-Large
IWW for years has supported Windsor Place (a group of homes in Salem for brain injured adults) with two coffee drives; one in July and one in December. We couldn’t collect coffee this July but still found a way to support them with monetary contributions from our club members.
I would say “see you at a dance”, but since no one has figured out how to dance and social distance, I will just say stay safe! LaVerne Bennett
The club is in the planning stages for a Saturday round dance event for an afternoon or evening time frame. It will be for those who are unable to attend during the week.
There is also some planning in the works to sponsor a two- step class so after they graduate they can maybe feel comfortable to move up to an intermediate level class the following year. That will give them time to get in some floor time and have the steps mastered before attempting the Phase 3 level. Stay tuned for more details on Facebook. Marilyn Schmit
August 15 (3rd Sat)
Our youth have received some information on the next Teen Festival. Projected dates are May 8 & 9, 2021 as long as everything works out. The kids will have new pins to sell sometime in September. Petrina Buchheit
At our recent Zoom board meeting it was decided (reluctantly) that we will not have our yearly picnic in August. We will revisit the question again at each board meeting to determine if we will be able to have one at a later time this year.
So, it seems like staying connected to our members becomes the most difficult and most important task. To this end we are trying to generate some group emails that let people share what they’ve been up to while staying close to home. So far, not a great response but we’ll keep trying. Also, one of our esteemed members has started calling people she knows that are living alone to see how they are doing. What a great contribution. Thank you, Jackie Amundson! Another great idea was presented to listen to Buddy Weaver’s videos: Square Dancing for One Couple. Not perfect but keeps the calls in our minds and we can do it in our homes. So stay tuned. Next month we will
hopefully have a more optimistic report.
Janet Linebarger
We miss all our square dance family and hope you are staying safe and well. When we can safely dance again, we will let you know.
Carol Mendenhall
We will plan another Ramble in August to try to maintain ties among our club members.
The square dance news is less positive. We continue to be on indefinite suspension. We have formally canceled our September monthly dance on September 12. We have also canceled our Scares and Squares dance weekend scheduled for October 23-25.
Wishing patience and good health to all.
Jeff Knapp, President
One of our TVC clubs, Hoedowners, have been having dances on Saturday evenings for Round dancing only. They are limiting the number of couples to meet current guidelines along with requiring the wearing of masks. Those who participate must have their temperature taken upon entrance. Be sure to contact someone in the club before venturing out as space is limited to 12 couples.
Please, wear a mask in public places and stay safe until we can meet on the dance floor again.
Ferrous Steinka
Thanks to all those people who have been sharing on OFN and Face Book how to dance just as a couple or as one. Some people are doing round dances with a limit on total number of people. Keep all these ideas coming!
Keep checking for our start date at www.EagerBeavers.info.
The following message is for your information when life as we used to know begins again: 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, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00, at the Aloha Grange, 3425 SW 185th, Beaverton, 97006
Rachel Nettleton
August 21 (3rd Fri)Here’s hoping that you get a chance to picnic outside with friends or family this August but if you don’t maybe, like us, you can at least just enjoy a little ice cream!
We will keep you updated on calendar changes thru this OFN report as well as our website: www.mixandminglesquares.org
Lindie Noonan
The difficult decision to cancel Octoberfest for 2020, was made. As with all clubs at this time, making provisions for future gatherings seems fruitless. We cancelled our coffee stop, one of our primary fund raisers. A demo for the fair was cancelled...on and on it goes.
Our next meeting will be at Pat Faires' lake house. Plenty of room for social distancing. A Labor Day campout is scheduled at Vista Park in Skamokawa, another outdoor venue and opportunity to gather safely.
That will wrap up our summer, until we meet again. We hope our feet remember the moves because our minds seem a bit fuzzy. (Should say only speaking for myself)
Reminder that any dances after September 1st will be regular schedule, 2nd Friday and 4th Saturday at 106 NW 8th Ave, Kelso, WA 98626. Kelso Senior Center by the Rotary spray park at the intersection of Hwy 4 and W Main, Kelso/Longview.
Regards to all, and may you be healthy until we meet again in a square. For current information see: www.r-square-d.info.
Annie Tietze
The board did decide that there will be no dancing lessons in the fall. We’re looking at January as a possibility now. Everyone please follow the CDC guidelines, stay safe, be patient, count your blessings, and tell me to do the same.
Gloria Davis
Judy Zimmerman
