Well, I must say things are opening up with round dancing and from what I just heard, even a square dance this past weekend. Getting the vaccine should be a good thing, but it is your choice. Be cautious in planning for dances in your area and follow the guidelines for the CDC and for your venue.
I would like to see more club reports in the OFN. As we all know, there isn’t a lot to read because not much is going on. I want to point out a couple of special reports from the March issue, written by reporters from the Tualatin Valley Council. I have strived to write positive reports each month, and these two reports are way better than I could do. Please go back and reread them. They are from the Eager Beavers, written by Rachel Nettleton and the Hoedowners, written by Krystal Lass. This last one lists several good maxims to live by. Thanks for these good reports. They made me take notice since they are so positive in a time when we need positivity.
Let us all continue to hold club meetings and make plans to get started dancing. Our callers and cuers associations are getting ready for this and your club needs to do the same. That would be a good subject to report on to the OFN next month, so we know what is going on in your area and where to dance when we all get it started again. We are all in this together and there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Swing Your Partner…………April Showers Bring May Flowers.
Gary Clark
Federation President
We're starting to see some buzz about planning for re-opening. If your club decides to open up again, let me know, and I can "pre-populate" your clubs lists of dances for the next few months.
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:
You may find the text of this article by Federation 2nd Vice President Tim Keck, and useful pages from the State of Oregon and from USDA, https://ofn.club/content/2021-04/Covid%20Guidelines%20(210325).pdf .
The next Federation meeting will be a Zoom teleconference on May 16, 2021, at 9:00 AM.
There will be no Oregon Summer Festival in 2021. Washington's Summer Festival is scheduled for June 17-19, 2021, in Everett, WA.
Mid-Winter Festival 2022 is scheduled for January 28-30, 2022, at the Linn County Fairgrounds in Albany.
The Silver State Festival, a favorite of Oregon dancers, is having a virtual festival on Saturday, May 8, with all 2-couple dancing, using their regularly scheduled callers. Sounds like a fun idea. Here's the flyer. You can register for free at (https://tinyurl.com/SilverStateFestival2021).
The latest news about the National Square Dance Conventions® is located in the National Squares magazine, produced by the NEC. You can find the latest issue here: (http://nsdcnec.com/flipdocs/NatSqOnline/Natsq1120/index.html)
The 70th National Square Dance Convention® will be held in Jackson, Mississippi, June 23-26, 2021. They are still planning for this to happen.
The 71st National Square Dance Convention® will be held in Evansville, Indiana, June 22-25, 2022. Note that the 71st NSDC Pre-Convention, previously scheduled for March 10-13, 2021, has been canceled and will be held virtually.
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:
April 1 -- Interstate Highlanders
April 7 -- ReVuN'Q
April 23 -- Oak Hills Squares
April 23 -- Salem Swingin' Stars
April 25 -- Valley Squares
April 26 -- Independence Wagon Wheelers
April 27 -- Single Trees
April 29 -- Tri Squares
April 30 -- Chaps & Petticoats
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.
On March 3, 2021, Richard C. (Dick) Frazier, loving husband and father passed away at the age of 89. Dick was born on Sept. 28, 1931, in Portland, Ore., to Wilbur and Bernice (Proctor) Frazier. On July 12, 1951, he married Joyce M. Lyon in Umatilla, Ore. They initially lived in California, where Dick was stationed in the Navy. After completing his tour in the Navy, they moved back to Oregon, where they began raising their two daughters, Linda and Brenda, and a son, Steve.
Dick’s passion was horses. During World War II, while his dad was away in the Navy, Dick lied about his age so he could race horses professionally. That was followed up by riding rough stock at rodeos throughout the Northwest and working on ranches where horses were a necessity. He shared his passion with his kids and horses were always a part of his life. Even in his last days, he enjoyed spending time in his daughter’s barn with her horses.
His early ranch days gave away to a job with Pacific Power and Light as a power plant operator, initially starting at a plant at the head of Wallowa Lake, then on to Tygh Valley and finally landing at the Powerdale plant in Hood River where he spent most of his career. He retired in 1992.
Square dancing (Eager Beavers), hunting, fishing and camping were all activities that Dick and Joyce loved. Whether it was on the Imnaha River in eastern Oregon, Lake Billy Chinook in central Oregon, or on the Oregon coast, they often had their trailer hooked up and were on their way somewhere. After retirement, they extended their travels to Arizona during the winter months and continued those activities until Joyce passed away in 2012.
Dick was a story teller, a tease, and deeply loved by his family and friends. Most of those who knew Dick enjoyed his humor, his compassion, and his caring attitude for those around him. During his last several years after moving into Hawks Ridge Assisted Living, he most enjoyed delivering Meals-On- Wheels to area folks who couldn’t get out.
Dick is survived by his five children, Ron and Linda Harder, Brenda Howe, Steve and Chris Frazier; five grandchildren Ronda, Ryan, Brian, Brandon and Mychal; and 10 great-grandchildren.
Visit www.AndersonsTributeCenter.com to leave a note of condolence for the family.
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 South Coast Council has chosen the April Round of the Month: "Knee deep", Phase II Two-Step, choreographed by Jim & Kathy Kline, music by Zac Brown Band.
By the way, there is an error on the cue sheet for the Classic ROM for March: the wait time at the beginning is 4 measures, not 2 measures as the cue sheet says.
[Download your cue sheet here] (https://www.roundalab.org/CuesheetsDL2/Knee%20Deep%2C%20Kline%2C%20J%26K_Two%20Step_2.pdf).
For more information on the Round of the Month, please contact .
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.
IWW is 61 years old this year and we would have celebrated in March. Perhaps we will have a mid-year party! LaVerne
We survived the ice storm, some without electricity for a few days, and some without internet afterwards. I have been without internet for two weeks now. I have to use my cell phone as a hot spot in order to have internet. I am not a happy camper.
Hope that some of you are back dancing in some capacity during the spring season. Marilyn Schmit
April 9 (2nd Fri)
We are also revising our stipends for callers and cuers at our council dances. The clubs are free to pay whatever they wish, but our council wishes to pay each caller and cuer 50% of the door, no caps, and a minimum of $75 each. So on a $6 dance the caller and cuer would each get $1.50 for each dancer, no caps. Our council believes this more realistically reflects caller/cuer expenses and efforts, and also acknowledges that both caller and cuer contribute equally to the enjoyment of the dance. Hopefully, callers and cuers will have equal time on stage, since they will be paid the same amount. Hopefully, too, our member clubs will likewise pay both caller and cuer fairly – to PAC standards. Door donations may need to increase, but dancing is still a bargain.
Council elections have resulted in recycling the 2019-20 officers for another year. Thanks to all.
April 30 (5th Fri)
It was a year ago, March 6, 2020, when Chaps and Petticoats had a dance night. Scott Zinser called and Stephanie Lozano was our Cuer, for the first time. On March 9th COVID-19 restrictions began, influencing the “Stay home - stay safe.” mandates. The Club met, outside with masks on, on July 5th, for a Club potluck - super fun it was too: a warm day, a picnic on the bank of the Willamette River and all members that could turned out (we were still thinking, this too shall pass). A Christmas potluck was held at a members home on December 13th - only seven members were present: (less than half of our club): two members already had COVID immunity and the other five of us were happy to be a part of the herd - masks off.
That sums up the 2020 year for Chaps and Petticoats, and sadly, we have no dancing news to report, thus far in 2021. The good news is: under moderate-risk COVID regulations, our venue, the Maplewood Grange, has opened to small-number meetings, in 2021 - so there is hope.
‘Lessons for all’ will be the theme when our hall re-opens.
Betty Chipps
April 3 (1st Sat)
April 24 (4th Sat)Liza is an inspiring teacher of line dances and folk dances; we laugh at silly jokes, keep up on each other's well-being, dance to Jim's recordings of square dances for one couple and also Buddy Weaver's recordings, and just generally have a very fun hour. And their generosity extends to one and all---just send Tom a note asking for the zoom invitation.
Respectfully submitted,
Janet Linebarger
While it has not been possible for us to gather in person yet, we have begun having Zoom meetings to keep in touch and check in with one another.
We send best wishes for good health to all of you and hope we will be dancing together soon.
Carol Mendenhall
Sadly we've cancelled all April & May dances and events.
The Boatnik Committee has decided that it would be best to cancel this year's Festival for Memorial Weekend 2021. This was not an easy decision and we were so looking forward to having Jet Roberts and Rey (Sherry) Garza as our featured talent. We hope to get them for another Festival.
All we can say is that 2022 is going to be a heck of a party with Eric Henerlau & Dan (Allison) Drumheller.
We look forward to dancing as soon as we can and hope everyone is staying safe.
See you on the dance floor.
Not much news to report as far as dancing goes. Like most clubs we are still in a holding pattern due to the pandemic. Our major problem is finding
a place to hold dances or classes. We have hopes of starting mid September. The Karuk wellness center seems to be our best option for any type of dancing.in the past the Karuk Tribe was very accommodating and we hope they will be again. We found out that our county fair is back on schedule, to be held in August. This is a great time for us to have our "Pepsi Booth" at the fair. It is a big fundraiser for the club and is a great opportunity to promote upcoming classes. Sherrie and I have been attending Zoom meetings hosted by Daryl Clendenin and attended by callers, dancers, and I think officers of clubs from Oregon. The purpose of these meetings is to try and find new ways to promote square dancing and try to find new ways to re populate this great activity. Suggestions are always welcome, don't be afraid to try something on your own even if it's getting a name and number of a new or even someone thinking of getting back into dancing. I believe the more advertising we can get out there the better! During these meetings there has been a lot of discussion about a revised dance program called SSD ( Social Square Dancing) maybe you have heard of it? It is a shorter lesson plan for new dancers and a possible way to get more dancers in the activity quicker and more often. I am excited and looking forward to trying this out.
We certainly miss seeing everyone and hope to get back together soon.
Stay safe and healthy! And if you can " Get shot"
Dean & Sherrie.
April 24 (4th Sat)Most of the clubs reported no activity. Some are staying connected by newsletters and virtual meetings. The Hoedowners plan to begin their round dances as soon as the Grange is available. The Valley River Dancers hope to have their Dancing Under the Stars on the 4th Saturday in July. More on that at future meetings.
An ongoing discussion continued regarding the future of our dancing. The consensus is that we probably will not be dancing until summer, at best. We discussed the Callerlab square dance program, Social Square Dancing, consisting of 50 moves for Basics and Mainstream. The dance format may be different in the future but most are in agreement that no plans will be firmed up until we are closer to beginning our activity.
The last discussion had to do with electing Council officers for the upcoming year. Mike suggested that considering very low activity last year that the current officers, if willing and volunteers notwithstanding, continue in their respective positions. The TVC By Laws will be consulted to see if this is allowed. If required, there will be a motion to suspend any rule that disallows the continuation at a future meeting. A motion may then be made for continuation.
Ferrous Steinka
Nick Johnson
Please keep up your support of your club because you want it to be there for you when we are given the green light to get dancing again. There are some wonderful dancers who are doing virtual events to keep others active. Many thanks to all of them. Also thank those officers who keep in touch with their members and send out their newsletters on a regular basis. Don’t forget those callers who miss you as much as you miss them.
In the meantime sign up for your Covid-19 vaccination as soon as you are eligible. Sometimes it takes a little work but more sites are coming available.
I am sad to say good bye to all the wonderful people I have met square dancing here but at the same time I am looking forward to finding new friends when dancing begins again in Corvallis. Thanks to everyone who have given such good times in my life.
Also, check for our start date at www.EagerBeavers.info.
Rachel Nettleton
April 5 (1st Mon)Craig Holt
Our future: Jubilation! We are planning our first dances of the year March 13th and 27th. We are delighted to announce it will be rounds with our cuer, Randy Lewis. A review or lessons will be at 6 pm. A variety of music will play from 7-9 pm. Please come with a partner to comply with covid19 restrictions. Masks and social distancing required.
We are planning a campout June 3-6 at the Silver Cove Resort. Cabins, RV parking and day tripping too. It will be our big social event of the spring and our first social event in over a year. We are beside ourselves we are so excited!!
Which of the following activities sounds good to you after a year of a pandemic?
Dancing - Dining - Card playing - Baseball - Painting - Firesides - Games - Laughing
They are all on our planning calendar. Watch this space next month for more detailed information. We plan on hosting more dance fun and safe events this year.
Krystal Laas
Lindie Noonan
Marie Clem
If a club participates on the board of the Center there is a break on the rental fee. Woohoo!! Thank you Vic Roberts, President, Dick Sims, Treasurer, Sandy Sims and John Poole for your part on the board. They help stretch our club finances.
But the real reason I am telling you this is to tell of the big project some of our members, primarily John Poole, Vic Roberts and Dick Sims have taken on during this pandemic: There is a second floor to the building with 4 small rooms and 2 large unfinished rooms (unusable) at each end of the building. These guys, primarily orchestrated by John Poole, have insulated, installed drywall, lighting, painted, added flooring, stairway access carpeted, and handrails installed. The rooms are near completion. When life seems to be at a standstill there are people out there doing significant things like this.
Kudos to R Square D people who have contributed to this project.
Annie Tietze
At the next meeting we will be talking about (SSD) Social Square Dancing. It’s been successful in Chicago, and it’s being investigated in Oregon now. Lets hope it is a way to get back to some form of dancing.
We have a slate of club officers:
President -Tom & Diana Gray
Vice President - Cathy Houston
Treasure - Dan Watson
Secretary - Kathy Degman
TVC Delegate - Linda Curtis
Stay well and we’ll see each other soon
Kathy Degman
In March over Zoom we had our annual General Meeting to present the names of members running for board positions, and in April we'll hold elections by email, which worked very well last year. Everyone is so anxious to dance again as soon as it's safe, and we like the idea of dancing to the 50 most-used steps a lot -- but board members are not fond of the potential name of "Social Square Dancing". We hope that the now-overused word "social" is dropped and that a different name is chosen.
Gloria Davis
Judy Zimmerman
I have been attending Daryl Clendenin's zoom meeting every other Tuesday at 7 pm. Pretty much we are discussing the following: When can we start? (no one knows yet); How will we start, that's another of the big questions; What level will we have our classes and dances, another big question; and Suggest having year round lessons to increase our clubs membership.
I am suggesting that our TVC Club President's have a zoom meeting and discuss this, then take any suggestions back to their Boards and perhaps members as well. We all need to be on the same page to continue square dancing and keep it alive. Don't know when the Club President's zoom discussions will happen or if it will have happened by the time you read this. We also all need to be on the same page as far as our regular dances are concerned. Whichever way we go, we need to be consistent. If we teach our new members the SSD-50 then we need to dance the SSD-50. We have some time yet and hopefully some great discussions. It's a new dawn, let's make sure square dancing is still here for us to enjoy in whatever format we choose.
As far as Plus and beyond is concerned, if we go the SSD-50 route Plus dances will not be changed, but Plus lessons will need to include the calls that were dropped from Basics and Mainstream. All levels above Plus will not have to adjust. Let's hope by our next report all this will be settled. Take a deep breath, enjoy the sunshine, do your Spring planting and hope to get back to square dancing soon.
Carolene Siebert
We dance the first and third Saturdays from 6:00 pm until 9:00 pm. These are updated times and have recently changed, so please make note. We are also starting a “no experience” dance from 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm on our regular dance nights. Come join the fun and help introduce square dancing to a whole new group of dancers!
Our Birthday Dance is coming up on the first Saturday in April. Come join the celebration and help us remember all the good times over the years. We also have our special Buckeroo Round-Up weekend scheduled for June 11th-13th. This year we will welcome Dan Nordbye as our caller and Julie Stiers as our cuer. It is always a highlight of our year and helps us raise money to support our beloved barn.
Happy dancing,
Robin
April 2 (1st Fri)