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The Milton-Freewater Muddy Frogs waltz social ballroom classes drew a crowd of two dozen dancers having a good time one-two-threeing around the hall, under the instruction of Neva Reid. On April 12, a six-week session of jive/swing social ballroom classes will commence from 3:45-5:00.

The square dance class has entered the final weeks of classes under the able calling of Bill Reid, ending with graduation at our April 19 dance.

The Frogs will have their regular third Sunday afternoon dance on April 19 from 3:00-5:00, with a potluck following. Our own Bill and Neva Reid will be calling and cueing at our regular hall, the Community Building at 109 NW 5thin Milton-Freewater.

We are a lively group who love to laugh and would love to have you join our fun!

Keep on dancin’!

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February was a fun month for the Single Trees. On Feb. 13 we celebrated our 51st birthday with four squares of enthusiastic dancers on the floor, enjoying the calling of the Wild Cards and cueing of Jackie Gale. What a great time we had with visitors from as far away as the Happy Hoppers in Vancouver and Roseburg Timber 8's and Buckeroos, all wanting to see this fun group of callers. They got rave reviews from everyone for being so friendly. Everyone enjoyed themselves and the birthday cake and ice cream served at break time.

The next weekend some of us went to the Danebo Circle 8 dance with Lennie Ludiker and Christina Corelli. It was their Chinese New Year dance with contributions of decorations from the Boots and Sandals who were there too to enjoy this special dance. Lennie did a great job and looked so cool in his Mandarin outfit and long braid and cap.

Craig Abercrombie called and cued for us on the 27th and as always had us dancing to the beat of his well chosen music. We always like his singing and his songs too. He'll be calling for us once again and next September will bring his friend Al Frazier with him. We had our club elections the night of the 27th. Unfortunately we found no one willing to run for president so our new vice president, Joy Pitts, will be stepping up to manage both positions. We hope the club will pull together to support her efforts.

We’re all looking forward to our Spring Bonnet dance in April with Jim Voll and Jackie Gale. We are happy now that we can have Jim guest call now and then for us once again and tickled pink that Jackie will be our club cuer starting in September.

Gaynor Hintz

It's always a treat when we have KRIS JENSEN,national caller from Albuquerque, New Mexico to call for us. Kris is Kurt Jensen's sister. Kurt and his wife, Lorna, are members of Spin Cycle Squares and round dancers with Christina and Kirby. Tim Matteson got to have a night off from calling and enjoyed dancing to Kris. Kris also called advanced for Cast-a-Shadow earlier.

We encourage dancers from all levels to attend our Sunday evening sessions which begin at 5:30. Tim calls and teaches all levels. This is a great chance to give yourself floor time and have FUN!

Happy dancing!

Christina Corelli

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Braids and Braves graduated four new dancers at our January dance, with several more new dancers that could not attend the graduation. One of our new dancers, Lynnette Wiesner, was awarded an Ambassador Badge for her attendance at new dancer dances. Congratulations, Lynnette! We are pleased to have all of our new dancers dancing with us. We also began a Plus level class in January with two squares of dancers and Leonard Snodgrass teaching. We are having lots of fun and learning too!

At our February business meeting, the club decided to ask our visiting callers and cuers to contribute the regular admission price at our dances. We are also busy planning our demos and visits for spring and summer: a demo at Willow Place in Newberg on March 28, Farm Fest on April 11 and Harvest Fest on August 15-16, both at Yamhill Valley Heritage Center in McMinnville. Club members are looking forward to another summer camp-out at Flying M Ranch in the hills outside of Yamhill August 28-30. Looks like a fun spring and summer! Jennie

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Special thanks to all who joined us on Valentine's Day for our Birthday Dance! Later that month, we had a festive graduation party for our eleven graduates from our mainstream class. Two of our members, Bob and Luella, supplied freshly cut daffodils for all the grads. Some of these new club members, along with others, headed west for our annual coast trip at Gleneden Beach in March. In April, we look forward to more dancing and are encouraging new dancers to get their "floor time" in! Karen

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The club is going through some changes as our cuer, Ray Walz and his wife, Virginia, are retiring from active cueing due to medical reasons. They will stay with us for a short time while we look for a replacement to teach and cue Phase 3-4 lessons and dances. They put their house up for sale on a Friday and had an offer on the following Tuesday and are in the midst of moving out and putting things in storage until they find a smaller house closer to their son in Keizer.

We have finished West Coast Swing and are now working on dances and then work-shopping a step in the dance if we mess up. Not sure what our hours are going to be until we hire a new cuer and set up a schedule that will work for them. We have interviewed one potential candidate and will make a decision in the near future in case we hear from someone else who might be interested. You can call President Marilyn Schmit at 503-508-0539 to see what we are doing each week until a new schedule is set. Marilyn Schmit

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The youth have been working hard on practicing and fundraising. Thank you to everyone who came to their fundraiser dance on March 8. We currently have 21 youth planning to go to the Pacific Northwest Teen Square Dance competition in May. This gives us two teams of squares, two callers and two couples in round dancing.

We added something new to the fundraising this year. One of our parents has had some experience with the “GoFundMe” system and volunteered to set one up for us. If you are interested in checking it out, please go to gofundme.com/mv2274.

For our superstition dance on March 13, we had a lot of fun researching superstitions and decorating the hall. See you in a square soon. Thomas Buchheit

Wow, we have been having a great time of dancing at our new location. Seems like the attendance has been up which I attribute to having better parking and a larger dance floor and, of course, a great caller and cuer (wink).

Our Chinese New Year dance was a big success with three tables of auction items and some great Chinese food and fun dancing.

We have several dances with fun themes coming up, so come join us. We always have a good time. Sandy

February was the Willamette Squares' sweetheart dance and there was a good turnout of visitors from various clubs. The caller was Sandy Harris, and the cuer was Sandra Pinion.

We are glad to report that member Brice Baker is recovering from recent surgery. Get well soon, Brice.

We are looking forward to our March dance. No matter how big or small, our dances are always FUN so we hope you will join us for an enjoyable evening of dancing and friendship! Jodee Howard

I love dancing, especially with the B&B’s. So, to get to our dances, I drive with a heavy foot on the gas and a hand on the horn. I mean, there’s more to life than dancing, but not much more. And I want big bang for my buck. I don’t like to sit out, which is why I take as many of our lessons as possible, so that no matter what is called or cued, I can dance it. That goes for the cha lessons we are starting this month, before our Wednesday dances.

Dances this month, where you can particularly get big bang for your buck, are our “Early Days” dance on April 1st. No foolin’ this will be a pretty sentimental dance, designed to bring up great memories, especially when dancing was the pastime norm. You can bring pictures of your early childhood. You should see me in my cute pigtails and flouncy white dress.

And then our big 50th Aniversary gala on April 15th, with National Caller DAN NORDBYE from Gilbert, Arizona. Our club got started because solo dancers were not necessarily welcomed at many clubs. But we showed ‘em; and now we’re tootin’ our horn!

Lotta Fluff

We experienced the skinniest attendance ever at our club anniversary dance, the “Flintstone” dance on February 20th. Our lesson learned is not to host the Trophy dance, ahead of another major theme dance – and certainly not back-to-back. The logic being: it takes energy to do a visitation, if a club has just been to your hall, it is not likely that visit will repeat with your next dance, and thus low attendance the result. So trophy/banner winners…choose wisely your Trophy dance date. We were thankful for those who attended our “Flintstone” dance - you made it fun! Costume prizes were awarded to these dancers: Adult Male/Female was Les Seeley and Vicki Pounds (C&P), Youth Male/Female: Ethan and Madison (C&P), and the winning couple was Robert and Young (Country Cut-ups).

The Chaps & Petticoats enjoyed the Silverton dance demonstration on March 8th where the Silver Knights and Silver Dragons exhibited their styling to be seen at the Pacific Northwest Teen Square Dance competition. Chaps had six dancers present at the Silver City Squares fundraiser to wish our youth “good luck”!

Won’t you wear your Easter hat/bonnet and come support Scott Zinser and Jackie Gale, caller/cuer on our April 3rd dance? April 17th is a regular dance with Leonard Snodgrass and Ken Pratt as caller/cue – please join us.

Happy Feet,

Betty Chipps

Spring has sprung and new life is showing up all over! New dancers are learning their moves and getting ready to graduate into full fledged mainstream square dancers by summer. Old dancers will need to learn new names as they join our club.

Speaking of spring, we hope all of you reading this, and many more, will come out to the annual Barn Sale. This year you can find some of yesterday’s treasures on sale on April 10 and 11, 2015. We are sure you need something that we can sell you! The proceeds of this sale help us with out beloved old Boring Barn’s upkeep and repairs.

Elections were held March 8, 2015 and we are pleased that most of our officers were willing to keep serving. Doug and Kathie Femrite stepped into the president’s position in January to fill a vacancy and have agreed to serve for the coming year. Tom and Katie Cassatt and Donna Krossman-Darling will continue as our vice presidents. Dan and Debbi Ragland will continue as treasurer. Incoming officers, Josh and Crystal Thomas will now fill the secretary slot. A big thanks to all who are willing to serve and a special thanks to all the members who have served on the board in the past.

Beverly De La Bruere

It's Spring, and things tend to move fast in the Spring. There is a bad news / good news situation to report. The bad news is that Jim and Brenda Martinez had to step down as our club presidents due to Brenda's ongoing health issues. The good news is that Randy and Jackie Amundson have agreed to serve out the current presidential term, with assistance from Rex and Jean Tolstrup. The Happy Hoppers are thankful to Jim and Brenda for their service, above and beyond the call of duty. Our hearts go out to them in this time of trouble.

We will have a visitation on Saturday, March 14th with the Hoedowners at the Aloha Grange, starting at 7:00. Daryl and Yvonne Clendenin will call and cue. This should be a fun dance and we're hoping that the Hoppers will show up in great enough numbers to make it even "funner".

We hope you can join us for some great food and fellowship at our next club dine-out, which will be at 6:00 in the evening of Wednesday, March 25th, at La Costa Mexican Restaurant, 4708 NE Thurston Way, Vancouver, WA (by the Olive Garden, near the Mall).

April is the last month for our Monday evening square dance lessons before summer vacation. Lessons will pick up again in September. Craig Abercrombie is presiding in Jim Hattrick's absence. We encourage beginning dancers to start introductory lessons on the first Monday of each month at 7:30. Plus lessons start at 6:30, Basic 1 at 7:30, Basic 2 at 8:30, and Mainstream from 9:00 through 9:30.

As usual, we will hold 2 club dances in April, on the first and third Saturday evening, at the Clark County Square Dance Center. However, this month each dance will be kind of special.

On April 4th, we will have our annual Ice Cream Social dance. Pre-rounds start at 7:30, with Plus squares starting at 8:00.

On April 18th, we will hold our 56th anniversary dance. The theme will be "Making Memories". Callers will be Craig Abercrombie and Adam Christman with Molly Combs as cuer. We will follow our normal schedule with pre-rounds at 7:30 and square dancing at 8:00, but because it's a party, this will be a Mainstream level dance with every third tip called at the Plus level. This will give students who have completed lessons at least through level 72 a chance to get some floor time and to help the Hoppers celebrate.

Marc Kahn

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If this report comes out early and before the end of March, please plan to attend the fund raiser for our hall, Milwaukie Community Club, on Sunday, March 29. World reknown story-teller Eric Foxman will be entertaining from 3:30-5:00 PM. This performance will have an Easter theme. Suggested donation is $12.50 per person. Hope to see you there.

Our mystery trip is this month, April 25. Maybe we will be coming to dance with you, and, then, again, maybe not. Frank and Cathy Betzer are sure to plan an exciting evening.

Our April 18th dance is a Hobo Dance and Canned Food Drive. Come in your comfortable duds. We decided to have our food drive in the spring as there is a need year found, not just during the holidays.

Gail Domine

The Ramblers dance at the Milwaukie Grange on the first Saturday of each month. On February 7, we hosted Palm Springs caller Terri Sherrer. On March 7, we hosted Albuquerque caller Kris Jensen. We will be dancing on April 4; caller TBD. We look forward to welcoming back Chuck Garner, who taught our Mainstream class for several years, to call for our Mainstream graduation dance on May 2. We also plan to dance on June 6; we will be dark on July 4. Solos, couples, and families are all welcome at our monthly dances. We encourage visitations from other clubs.

We’ve just confirmed the dates for our club’s annual three-day dance festival, which we call Scares and Squares because it takes place around Halloween. We will be dancing October 23-25, 2015 at the Multnomah Arts Center, 7688 SW Capitol Highway, Portland. Callers will include Mike DeSisto (Enumclaw, WA) and Chris Phillips (Ft. Lauderdale, FL). This is a great opportunity to dance to different calling styles and diverse musical selections with some superb callers. Solos, couples, and families are welcome. Watch for more details on our website: www.rosetownramblers.com.

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Our third Saturday dance this month will be celebrating our 37th Birthday with Sherm Welch calling. And coming up in May is our Cinco de Mayo dance on the first Saturday with a live band. See flyer in this issue.

That is all I have for now.

Happy Dancing!

Linda

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No club news received.

Eager Beavers visited the Valley Squares on February 7th with a square and our caller. We have two banners now so if you would like your banners back come to any Monday dance or our Anniversary Mainstream Dance on Sunday afternoon, April 26th, at the IOOF Hall in Hillsboro. See flyer for info in the OFN Flyers section.

February 9th we held our Valentine Dance honoring our randomly selected King and Queen. We were delighted to see Nan Overall and Dick Frazier selected to cheers from the dancers. They also received flowers and candy. Good job when you can get it!

If tax time is getting you down come dance at our Poor Man’s Ball April 13th. By that time you should know if you are a pauper or flush with cash and you can show it off by what you wear. Anyone wearing a barrel?

The Eager Beavers started plus lessons for new dancers and old dancers who wanted some practice. We expect to be adding new members soon.

All plus dancers are invited to dance with us on Monday afternoons, 1:00-3:15 p.m. (rounds from 1 to 1:30) at the Sunset Presbyterian Church, 14986 NW Cornell Road in Beaverton. Please check for up to date information at www.eagerbeavers.info.

Rachel Nettleton

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The Hoedowners’ February just flew by. Can the 2 or 3 extra days in a regular month make such a difference? I think this glorious sunshiny weather made the month so incredible and quick.

2015 is one of those years where our first dance of February falls on Valentine’s Day. We were “Romancing Oregon” as it’s also Oregon’s birthday. The ballroom was full because so many wonderful square dancers decided to celebrate the holiday dancing with us. The hall was decorated in festive and romantic red, white and hearts. The buffet table was heavy with chocolaty treats. We took the opportunity to sing Happy Birthday to Debbie Olson. She too is a Valentine baby.

We had our Annual Meeting, Potluck and New Dancer Graduation on Wednesday, February 25th. We never organize a thing and yet the table is laden with a variety of appetizers, salads, main dishes and desserts. Our meeting was brief, the conversations were lengthy; new shirts were ordered, social activities discussed and we graduated twelve new dancers. Can’t ask for a better evening than that.

We wrapped up February in fine style with our 65th Anniversary Dance. The club finally qualifies for Medicare but we just can’t figure out how to apply. We had a wonderful group of dancers helping us celebrate with visitations from Valley Squares and Sunset Promenaders. The ballroom was decorated like a trip down memory lane with each decade represented by nostalgic hints, old club banners and club dresses. Our annual chicken dinner was enjoyed by a large group and two birthday cakes devoured during open break. I hope you had a chance to join us.

April is when we hold our Under the Big Top Dance. Have you enjoyed a visit to the circus and dancing under our own big top at the Aloha Grange? You must! Costumes are optional but devilishly fun. On April 25th, we have our Denim Dance where everyone comes in costume; denim shirts, denim jeans, denim skirts, what isn’t made in denim these days?

As we tell our new dancers, “If we’re not supposed to dance, why all the music?”

Krystal Laas

Janelle Janicke reports that her foot operation was successful. She finds the crutches, the wheelchair, and the cane challenging. She hopes that a knee scooter will ease her mobility problems.

Beyond that we are having our usual fun dances and hope that all you plus dancers will join us.

Patty Bonney

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Nothing as sweet as the sounds of feet tapping, and laughter in anticipation of what kind of fun is about to happen when the caller steps up to the microphone. February brought the club out in lots of red and pink for sweetheart’s day with a dance on the 13th. We continue the month with our benefit dance for the Emergency Shelter on the February 28th.

We had a busy month of visitations starting with 5 couples going to Buzzin Bees to retrieve a banner and on the 21st the club made a good showing at the Anniversary dance at Ruff and Ruffles in Kelso. Congratulations to them. In turn we will celebrate our 62nd Anniversary dance on April 10th followed up by a Western dance with guest caller Renee Rudd on April 25th.

We’ve had amazing support from the club on lesson nights and most of the time the floor is moving with 3 squares. Thank you to Vic Roberts and Toni Carroll for hosting the monthly meeting.

For more information about the R Square D club please visit our website at www.r-square-d.info or friend us on Facebook.

Caller- Craig Abercrombie, Cuer- Lonnie Sycks

Submitted by Marie Geisler

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No club news received.

Please join us for our 66th Anniversary Dance April 18, Chuck Garner calling and Connie Clark cueing.

We hosted our annual Soup Dance to celebrate the Super Bowl. Guests sampled lentil, beef barley, lemon chicken, French onion, and taco soups. We had so many fine guest callers and cuers to accompany our own creative artists, Chuck and Connie. Daryl Clendenin, Darrell Kalmbach, KC Curtis, George Clark shared the calling mike and Julie Stiers, Bev Hardin, Yvonne Clendenin the cueing honors.

Our Mardi Gras Dance was humming with a visitation from Buzzing Bees. Colorful beads clacked as dancers twirled and a few folks hid their faces behind masks of various hues. A couple of toucans alit in the form of Julie and Pete Cooper. Dancers sampled King Cake during our Open Break in the Quilt Room.

We ended the month with a visit to Hoedowners' 65 Anniversary Dance. What a nice crowd of celebrants from the dancing community! We recaptured one of our club flags.

Patt Hawthorne

The Wave Steppers are dark over the winter, but we'll be having classes; a new round of square dance classes, taught by caller Joe Wrabek, started Wed., Jan. 28th, at the Tillamook Elks Lodge. As last year, the classes are free; the Elks are letting us use the hall free of charge.

Our 2015 dance schedule starts in May. We'll be dancing the second Saturday of the month on the Dance Floor at Garibaldi City Hall. About two-thirds of the big City Hall's second story is a dance floor, built in the 1940s for the old Firemen's Balls; there have apparently been square dances there ever since the building was built.

May 9th will be our New Dancers Dance, with caller Joe Wrabek and line dance instructor Gwen Kiel. June 13th, we'll have Mark Wheeler calling, and either line dancing with Gwen or round dancing with cuer Connie Clark. On July 11th, George Clark will be calling and cueing, and on August 8th, caller and cuer will be Harvey Hunsucker. The September 14th and October 10th dances will have club caller Joe Wrabek and line dance instructor Gwen Kiel.

Joe Wrabek

What a lovely month of dancing we had in February. Not only did we have a “hearty” lot of fun at our Valentines Dance, but we also celebrated the graduation of 17 new students at our combo potluck & graduation night. Chuck Simpkins led the graduates through a tip danced to the Chicken Dance while the students wore chicken tail feathers and yellow beaks. Before receiving their diplomas the students also danced a tip with a balloon between their knees. We also had a few additional folks who came out for lessons and received their Refresher Workshop certificates. Thanks to a small group of hard working volunteers our annual February Barn Sale was a success. We are looking forward to our 63rd Birthday Dance coming up April 4th. Our fabulous local Umpqua Valley Boys will be calling and Neil Koozer will be cueing. Birthday cake is on the “agenda” so mark it down on your calendar and join us!

Rita Schuchard

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No club news received.