This is my last letter to the OFN as the Federation president. Welcome to Gary Clark as our new president.
This has been a unique year in our experiences both in dancing and in the world. Please continue to work at keeping in touch with other dancers, neighbors and family as our situation continues.
Good wishes and good luck to Gary as he takes office at our meeting this month.
Karyn Buchheit
Greetings to all Square and Round Dancers within the Oregon Federations.
As incoming Federation President I want to give Karyn Buchhiet a big thank you for her good job as State President this past year. It was different leading the Federation during a pandemic. You did a good job, Karyn. All of your state officers made the adjustment to this new situation. I want to also thank your Secretary Roberta Claudson for adjusting to this situation despite going through a family tragedy. We all understand your need to resign and have time to heal. Thanks to Lorri McIntosh for taking the appointment to fill this slot and becoming the Federation Secretary.
As we move forward with an uncertain square and round dance future, we have to remember we are all in this together. We need to be safe with social distancing. I have seen emails that a group of callers are doing on line meetings to discuss getting started again when the timing is right. There are also round dance clubs having dances with social distancing in mind, as well as following the CDC and Oregon State guidelines. This is all fine if you are comfortable with this. No pressure to participate if it’s not the right timing for you.
There will be a different format for clubs starting back up, I’m sure. We officers of the Federation are always here to help as soon as we find out the go ahead under Phase III. This will be the timing for all dancing, I do believe. However some counties of the state could move forward with CDC permission because of low COVID-19 incident rate. At this time the Portland tri-county area is the hot spot for cases. This will all take time to resolve.
I want to thank each and every one of you for your confidence in me to lead this Federation. Time will tell what the "new normal" will be. Until then, hang in there. Plan some functions with your club with social distancing, and keep in touch with a suggested weekly Club Update email with contributions from the members on what they are doing. My club, the Sunset Promenaders, and others, are doing a good job with this connection with the members. Keep it up until we get back to dancing and we WILL be dancing again.
Swing your partner anytime.
Gary Clark
We are fortunate this month to have two president's columns, one from outgoing Federation President Karyn Buchheit, and one from incoming Federation President Gary Clark.
September has traditionally been "square dance month", when most of our clubs start their new mainstream lessons. Unfortunately, we won't be seeing much of that this year. Several clubs are starting size-limited round dance lessons.
Once we do get back to dancing, it's likely we will all need refresher lessons...
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. A final decision will be made in October.
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:
September 2 -- Tumbleweeds
September 3 -- Wave Steppers
September 11 -- Hoedowners
September 15 -- Willamette Squares
September 19 -- Braids & Braves
September 21 -- Mid-Willamette Council
September 23 -- Lebanon Square Circlers
September 23 -- Valley River Dancers
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 organizers of the Royal Romp, traditionally held in the first week of November, have had to make the difficult decision to cancel this year. We hope to see all of you next year.
Phyllis Baldwin, long time member of the River City Dancers, passed away peacefully in her sleep on August 21 at 8 AM. She was enjoying her facilities but needing more sleep. She just had her 96th birthday on July 11! She was living near Missoula, Montana, close to her son, Blake Ludwig. If you wish to send a card this is the son's address:
Blake & Caryn Ludwig
405 S. 5th St. W.
Missoula, MT 59801
Her son Craig lives up the Gorge. Phyllis was a joy to all of us. We've been missing her as she had been in Montana for a year.
Phyllis & Julius Smith were great ambassadors for the River City Dancers. They kept people interested and joining our Club, and we will miss them both. Julius passed away the first week of June.
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 Central Oregon Council has chosen the September Oregon Round of the Month: "Bing Bang Boom", Phase II Two Step, choreographed by Barry and Bobbie Bartlette, music by Highway 101. 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.
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.
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 August that I am aware of. After that, we will see. It's a little difficult to social distance with square dancing. We fear there may not be any lessons this fall as well.
You can never be too safe with this virus business.
Wishing you all good health,
Christina Corelli, Secretary
Stay safe,
Gaynor Hintz
In the meantime it is nice to stay in contact by reading the OFN, watching for email reports from members and other square dancing friends. We were all sorry to hear Mike Sikorsky was hopsitalized for a very long time with what wascalled pneumonia at first, then double pneumonia, then MRES, and then it all went into sepsis. He is lucky to be alive and have made it through all that. Mike liked to come through Oregon and call here and there upon occasion and some have been lucky to travel to Arizona and get to dance to his fine calling. We wish him well.
Our club may still have a gathering which will not be our traditional picnic but a way to reconnect with one another until we can get back on the dance floor. Perhaps it will happen in September while the weather holds.
Be well. 'Til we meet again.
Gaynor Hintz
Club reporter
Patrick Finn, one of our members who moved to Wisconsin has a new puppy! She's a great Dane! We look forward to seeing photos as she gets bigger and bigger! We're glad Patrick is not alone.
We are sad to let you know that Kris and Kurt Jensen's mom, Joan, passed away here in Eugene. Our sympathies to Kris, Kurt and their families. Joan lived an incredibly full life full of adventure, travel and service.
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
There is no clear guidance yet when normal square dancing can resume simply because the pandemic is too active and we have no vaccine yet. We are missing all our Square Dance family. Carmen
We are still dancing weekly on Thursdays through the end of August from 7-9 p.m. for our summer sessions, unless the Governor decides otherwise. I think we will be dark on September 3 for the long Labor Day weekend, in case people have plans to go somewhere. Then, we will start fall sessions at 6:30 p.m. with the intro to Phase 3 dancing with a rhythm to be determined, when we get a cuer to help us out.
We had a summer dance scheduled for August 15, but it is too soon to report on how that went, and too soon to cancel in case the Governor decides otherwise. We are kind of in-between things at the moment.
We hope to see you in our dance hall for an evening of round dancing whenever you are in the vicinity. Marilyn Schmit
September 10 (2nd Thu)
September 13 (2nd Sun)
Jim
So here comes September, that means no square dances since spring, through summer and soon we’re into fall.
I really miss the dancing. On a happy note, Chaps and Petticoats picked up two more members in May (that makes four since February’s graduation). On JULY 5th, wearing masks and social distancing, we planned a BBQ picnic at a member’s home on the waterfront. It was such a beautiful day, we enjoyed each other’s company immensely!
Chaps and Petticoats can hardly wait to introduce you to the lively and refreshed Maplewood Grange. While the Grange is closed to rentals (that’s us), the lockdown has allowed much-desired improvements to take place ...we will share the upgrades with you in the near future.
When we are back to dancing, students and Angels, alike, are going to need refreshers - look forward to seeing you then.
Stay healthy,
Betty Chipps
We are having line dance lessons on Thursday nights with beginning from 5pm to 6pm and advanced from 6pm to 7pm, again, with social distancing rules in place. Club member, Lynn Wunische is instructing. So far, all of the classes have been held on our outdoor dance floor.
Our annual Pancake Breakfast has been cancelled this year. As with everyone, we are dearly missing the square dancing and being together. To date, we are all staying healthy.
At our recent board meeting it was decided to notify our members that we will be in touch with them as soon as it is feasible to start activities again. We had previously notified them that we might possibly start lessons again in September but here in Washington the granges are still closed unless certain stringent guidelines are followed, ie, complete sanitation of the entire building before and after an event. That is not a realistic possibility for our club.
So we will continue to brainstorm and try to keep square dancing in the minds and hearts of our membership as "Stay safe" becomes a common refrain.
Janet Linebarger
River City Dancers is still not yet dancing and we are waiting until it is safe to do so. When the day comes that we are dancing again, I am sure you will be able to hear the loud outcry of joy. Just In case you have your windows and doors closed at that time and do not hear all the joyful celebration, we will be sure to notify you when we dance again. Meanwhile, stay safe and healthy and hang on to the hope that we will all be together again and dancing soon.
Carol Mendenhall
After our successful masked Ramble in Sellwood in July, we decided to Remake the Ramble on August 8. This time we gamboled through Portland's Irvington neighborhood. We marveled at some truly magnificent mansions, some vintage apartment buildings, and some stately old trees lining one of Portland's most elegant neighborhoods. The weather was beautiful and comfortably cool, so mask-wearing was certainly tolerable.
We will plan another Ramble for early September...got to get these walks in while climatology is working in our favor.
We hope everyone is staying healthy and sane. We look forward to getting back on the dance floor soon.
Jeff Knapp
President
One of the popular methods of keeping in touch is a club newsletter where members and other dancers are invited to share their experiences during the pandemic. For information on how the clubs are doing this you can ask your question using the "Contact Webmaster" link on the websites for the Hoedowners, Eager Beavers, Sunset Promenaders, R Square D, Wavesteppers, or Oak Hills Squares.
The annual "Seaside Sashay" held in late October and hosted by the TVC Promenaders and Hayshakers had to be cancelled due to Covid-19 concerns.
Please, wear a mask in public places and stay safe until we can meet on the dance floor again.
Ferrous Steinka
Nick Johnson
On the bright side it is easy to make somebody’s day with just a call or a note making both of you feel a lot better. This time out also makes us appreciate all those things we take for granted; socializing with friends, taking spur of the moment trips, shopping when you feel like it, celebrating birthdays and weddings, dining in a restaurant, visiting a friend or family in a care facility, and so on.
While I am thinking about things missed, I miss our callers and cuers. They must be bored out of their skulls. Give your caller a call too.
My thanks to those who are making an effort to find ways to keep the dancing going even with just one couple at a time.
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
In fact, Donnie and I were bemoaning our lack of a social life one evening last week when we plunked ourselves down in from of the TV and began to cruise through streaming services when we noticed a documentary called Clive Davis: The Soundtrack Of Our Lives. It was a homerun, as we were mesmerized over the next two hours listening to the music. YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS!
The film got us talking about one of the charms of summer; the outdoor concert. Growing up in Montana, outdoor concerts with headliners were rare. In 1971 we were thrilled to see Sonny and Cher live at the State Fair. Here we’re very lucky with dozens of venues presenting a host of summer concerts; the Gorge Amphitheatre (great groups, great camping, great big mosquitoes), McMenamins Edgefield Concerts out in Troutdale (eclectic music, good food and beverages), Portland Zoo Concerts sitting in the grass, Portland Jazz Festival, Waterfront Blues Festival (we went several years ago to hear Richie Havens because that’s where we found our daughter’s name), Waterfront Park concerts (Who can pass up the Oregon Symphony playing the 1812 Overture with the National Guard cannons on Labor Day). We have all enjoyed an evening dancing at one of the wineries or celebrating a wedding outside. We can enjoy Michael Allen Harrison’s Ten Grands playing at Ron Tonkin Field or the wonderful Italian Festival, held each August at Pioneer Square, where the crowd is doing the rumba, the waltz, or cha to a large dance band. There are usually dozens of concerts each week in local parks and venues. Everyone loves dancing in McMinnville at the Valley River Dancers “Dancing Under The Stars”. A few years ago we drove up to Seattle to see Paul McCartney in concert at T-Mobile Park, the baseball field. It was a perfect evening, warm, with the lights of downtown Seattle as the backdrop. The gal sitting to my left had come with her daughter and she and I decided we never dreamed we’d have an opportunity to dance, in the dark, under the stars to a Beatle. She and I danced all night while her daughter sat glued to her seat. Donnie joined in but in a more sedate manner letting the “girls” have fun.
I know each and every one of you has memories too of other summers. May I suggest we make a new memory of the summer of 2020? We are definitely missing out but I have two suggestions, grab a lawn chair, a snack, an adult beverage, and make your own concert in your backyard, the music selections are up to you. Smell the grass and enjoy the moonlight.
I also recommend watching the Clive Davis documentary. You will be amazed at the guy’s music savvy and insight. We didn’t know that this mild mannered attorney influenced us so much. Dancing is optional but recommended.
Hope to see you dancing soon.
Krystal Laas
Hmmm. Maybe I should stock up just in case they are a “limited edition”.
We will keep you updated on calendar changes thru this OFN report as well as our website: www.mixandminglesquares.org
Lindie Noonan
Starting at the Cherry Lane Trailhead in Hillsboro, participants needed to toss a beanbag through one of the holes in a spaceship before continuing. After finding “the quarter” (25th Avenue), teams played a short game of croquet at Griffin Oaks Park in really tall grass, which made it more challenging.
From there, everyone traveled to the Fernhill Wetlands for a game of ring toss. The next stop, at Thatcher Park in Forest Grove, featured a giant frog. Teams used badminton rackets to hit shuttlecocks, ping pong balls, and plastic baseballs through the mouth of the frog. It looked easy, but was deceptively hard, especially with the changing breeze. This stop was probably the highlight of the competition!
Before revealing their hands, everyone was allowed to discard and draw one or two cards to improve their chances of winning. Darrell Kalmbach had the best hand with five 11’s (queens). Everyone visited and snacked for a while before heading home after a fun afternoon.
Ruth Canby, our first round dance cuer, passed away on July 3, 2020 at the age of 91. She cued for the Sunset Promenaders for twenty-five years; her husband, Mel, was our first square dance caller. She taught round dancing to many people over the years. Her contributions to the club also included decorating, food for potlucks, and managing scrapbooks to preserve memories made during club functions. She attended many Sunset Promenaders activities after her retirement party at the Christmas Dance in 2010.
Due to the more stringent restrictions on gatherings, the club picnic scheduled for August 16th was cancelled. Dan and Terri Browning graciously offered to host the event, but felt it wasn’t possible to comply with the directives in place at this time. They are looking forward to having a picnic at their house next year!
Unfortunately, the pandemic has also led to the cancellation of the Seaside Sashay in October.
Ferrous Steinka (with permission)
I hope all of you are doing well and looking forward to dancing with you soon.
Kathy Degman
This pandemic has made it difficult for our grange too, so our contract hasn't been negotiated for the coming year yet. But they have agreed to let us know first if they have someone else wanting to rent it on one of our normal dance nights, so that we could keep that date ourselves if we are able to dance together by that time. We all miss each other and dancing together, so, since our club’s monthly newsletter is very empty now, the board has asked members to submit their “Covid-19” stories to share through the newsletter, so we could all keep more in touch. Looking forward to that!
Gloria Davis
Carolene Siebert
