The Current
18 • AUGUST 2014 Brought to you by
About and for Valley seniors
Dancers rally for festival, salmon dinner By Valerie Putnam
CURRENT CONTRIBUTOR
Dancers from around the Northwest will converge on the Western Dance Center, 1901 N. Sullivan Road, for the 58th annual Square Dance Festival and Salmon Barbecue Aug. 22-24. The event, featuring three days of square and round dancing, is expected to draw 400 dancers. The dancers will be directed by the calls of Jerry Story from McAllen, Texas and cueing by John and Fran Downing of Newport, Wash. The festival opens to the public on Sunday with its traditional salmon barbecue dinner. Served from noon to 4 p.m., this annual feast including salads, baked beans, fruit, roll and beverage. Entertainment begins at 2 p.m. featuring live blue grass music and dancers showcasing the different levels and styles of dance. “We want to try and get people interested in square dancing,” Western Dance Association president Richard Snyder said. “If they’re interested, they can sign up for classes.” The dinner serves as the Western Dance Association's annual fundraiser. Proceeds from the event go toward maintenance on the Dance Hall located 1901 N. Sullivan Road. "We need the fundraiser to keep the building going," Snyder said. "The Salmon barbecue is the life of that building." Snyder anticipates serving over 600 dinners Sunday. He says the association typically grills over 700 pounds of salmon over an open pit using apple wood. "You won't find a better fish dinner anywhere in the country," he said with a laugh. Longtime dancer Elaine Mann would agree. "They have what they call a secret recipe for the sauce they put on the salmon," she said. "It's really good." The association has volunteers on hand to assist the elderly with seating and getting them their meal. The group’s first salmon barbecue was held in 1957 at Spokane’s Natatorium Park to raise money for a new dance hall. The Western Dance Association formed the same year as a means to handle the business affairs of the future hall. The idea for the fundraiser came from late square dance caller Walt Baer. He joined forces with fellow square dancer Jack
IF YOU GO ... 58th annual Square Dance Festival Aug. 22-24 Western Dance Center, 1901 N. Sullivan Road
The event begins Friday with a casual “Trails in Dance” at 7 p.m. On Saturday, an intermediate round dance workshop will be 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., along with dancing from 2 to 10:30 p.m.
Salmon Barbecue
Noon to 4 p.m. Aug. 22 Western Dance Center
SUBMITTED PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOHN PETERSON
The public is invited to the dinner and performances at 2 p.m. Cost is $10 for adults, $9 for seniors (age 65 and over) and $6 for children (12 and under). Dinner consists of salmon, potato salad, green salad, roll, baked beans, fruit, ice cream and beverage.
Square dancers take to the floor at the Western Dance Center during last year’s Square Dance Festival. Gary Johnson puts the secret sauce on the salmon last August. Several hundred people typically attend the salmon barbecue, where proceeds go toward maintenance on the dance hall located on Sullivan Road. Morrison, a public relations professional at Kaiser, to organize the barbecue. Baer, whose day job was selling fish at Empire Fish Co., got the salmon wholesale. Morrison taught the dancers how to cook the salmon on metal racks over apple wood, a tradition that is still being practiced today. According to a historic document written by former dancer Grace Libby, the idea for the dance hall came from a former square dance club known as the Shin Diggers in 1957. In 1960, the association purchased a dismantled steel frame building, complete with metal roofing, maple floor and several thousand feet of lumber for $7,120. The first dance was held Sept. 9, 1961. Mann, who has attended 55 barbecues, was at the first one held on Sullivan in 1961. She remembers the dance hall was under construction at the time. "There was a floor in the hall but the walls were not finished," Mann said. "We had to
For more information, call 688-4060.
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prepare all the food ourselves. I remember slicing homegrown tomatoes." Attendees of the event should know modern square dancing is a far cry from the barn dances of the past. Though the basics of square dancing are still four couples arranged in a square directed by a caller, today’s dancers move to modern music. “Square Dancing is not the blue grass that everyone thinks it is,” Festival Chairman Dan Bailly, who started dancing in 1981, said. Even the traditional square dance attire has changed from frilly skirts with petticoats to more casual prairie skirts. "It is slowly getting away from the dress code," Snyder said. "It is slowly relaxing to the keep the activity alive. The younger generation is not interested in wearing the costumes." According to Bailly, the median age of square dancers is in the 50s. "As long as you can move, you can dance
The Spokane area Council is comprised of 25 dance clubs throughout the region. Dancing lessons begin in late September/October. Each lesson costs $5. Classes are offered at the Western Dance Center, 1901 N. Sullivan Road, or the North Spokane Dance Center, 7424 N. Freya St. A variety of dancing is done at the Hall including square and round dancing, clogging and line dancing. For more information, call 979-2607 or visit www.squaredancespokane.org. as long as you want," Bailly said. "You can put as much or as little into it you want." For both Mann and Snyder, square dancing has been a big part of their lives. Mann met her dancing partner Roger Olson on the dance floor 12 years ago, and have been dancing together ever since. "It's where you meet your friends," Mann said, who dances three to four times a week with the Valley Crosstrainers. "We can't say
See DANCERS, page 19