The Woodinville Square crows have entered their 45th year of exist-ence this July 2018!

And how the times have changed! At least, that is what we hear from the many dancers that we meet as we dance our way through the many dance halls in the area. They all seem to remember the Square Crows very fond-ly; and tell us their stories and experiences as a Square Crow from times before or when visiting the club. My own introduction to the Square Crows came last fall when my husband, Lee and I joined lessons at the Sammamish Valley grange at the insistence of our friend and neighbor Lu-cy Lotto. Lucy had joined the crows a year prior and told us about her fun times and how good square dancing was for one’s health and mind. Nope, we just weren’t taking the bait, especially since it had the word ‘dancing’ in it! Lucy wasn’t hearing it either! So we gave in and decided to try a les-son so we could objectively and conclusively tell Lucy why we couldn’t do it. We had our first lesson sometime in Oct 2017 and the rest, as they say, is history since we haven’t skipped dancing a week since then! Lee and I enjoy it for the many aspects - the music, the liveliness, the fun callers and cuers, and most of all the many people that we have met. To quote our wise secretary, Lynn Von Seggern, “There is not a nicer group of people that I have met as I have done with square dancing.”

I could not agree more and that is something to write home about or crow about...

Page 1

New Newsletter, format, and all...

Hear! Hear!

We have begun a new looking newsletter to enliven things a bit. In keeping with the times, this news feed will be called the Crows’ Feed instead of the standard ‘Monthly Newsletter’.

Please send your comments, suggestions, feedback to squarecrows@gmail.com; shanthala51@gmail.com

Special points of interest:

Come join the picnic Sunday, Jul 1.

Please sign-up for e-newsletter! Will have pictures from prior dance.

Introductory dance at the Maltby Hall on Aug 10.

If you haven’t renewed membership, please do so. Renewal form available online.

BBQ and Picnic at Shanthal a & Lee (details

inside)

Jul 1

Caravan to Freewheelers Jul 15

July Club Meeting—Sammamish grange—5:00 pm Jul 28

July Club Dance—Ice cream social w Don Wood &

Karen Neverdowski

Jul 28

Aug Dance at the Maltby Hall (Yes!) Aug 10

Aug Club Dance at the Sammamish Grange Aug 25

Upcoming events

CR

OW

S’

FE

ED

WW

W.

SQ

UA

RE

CR

OW

S.

OR

G

Volume 45, Issue 1

July 2018

As the crow flies… By Shanthala Rawls

When: Sunday, July 1, 3pm

Where: 14019 165th Ave NE, Woodinville, WA 98072 (206 883 5404)

What to bring: An item for the grill or something to share

Welcome all crows! We will have bocce ball, croquet, and other lawn games! Dinner will cook on a large open firewood fed grill. Dress comfortably. Significant other and children welcome.

The club meeting was held at Wen-dy’s, Woodinville with the all the club officers present and a few others adding up to a total of nine members. We got a wonderful report on our last dance and its success. The anniver-sary dance, fund raiser bake sale and used clothing sale had a whopping attendance of 60+ people and helped raise some valuable funds for the club. Go Square crows!

Topics discussed included- Publicizing Square dancing with badges/banners.

Publicizing the Aug 10 introductory dance at Maltby Community Center. This dance is free for the club mem-bers and $5 for non-members.

Dates, Callers, and themes for the next year were introduced. We have a great line-up of Callers and Cuers! Very exciting! Thank you– Karen Neverdowski, Alice Wright, and Jo Ann Pyle. Your work in putting this together is very much appreciated by every dancer and music aficionado.

Square dance lessons were also dis-cussed. The next set of lessons will begin on Tuesdays starting January 2019. The location will be the Horse-shoe grange conveniently located a couple of miles from the new club dance hall at Maltby. Please publicize and promote this information.

Club Picnic– Sunday, Jul 1. Please RSVP so we have a count of folks.

The next club meeting in July will be held at the Sammamish grange itself before the dance. The time is set for 5:00pm. Please note this in your calendars and come join.

Also in the works is the ongoing remedial workshop/dance instruc-tions conducted by Lee & Shanthala Rawls. Classes are free and happen on Monday evenings through the summer. Please send an email to lee.rawls@gmail for information.

square dancing, unregulated regional styles, known collectively as “traditional” square dancing, continue to thrive in certain parts of the country.

Thus, square dancers can now move across the country, and even across the world and still be dancing!

Did you know-

In the 1950s callers began developing standards for square dancing across the United States, allowing dancers to learn interchangeable routines and patterns. Microphones and records made the activity even more accessible to the general public, since a highly trained caller with a booming voice no longer had to be physically present. Along with standardized—or “Western”—

Square dancing is the official state dance of the state of Washington

Page 2

Club BBQ & Picnic at Lee & Shanthala’s

Unofficial June club meeting notes by Shanthala Rawls

History lesson - Origin of Square Dance standards

CR OW S’ F EE D

V OLU ME 45 , IS SU E 1

other nearby dance made for a smaller attendance but three squares can whoop it up and make a lot of beautiful noise! The singing and song selections was a lot of fun and the dancers were invited to sing along and DID THEY! Most tips ended with the cheery phrase, “Who stole my horse! Bang! Bang!”

Gaylen is a fun caller and called a few interesting calls and maneuvers that many of us hadn’t done or seen before. An in-teresting one where the boys followed the girls while they wove a scoot-back or

partner-trade were successfully executed. Karen cued on a few very beautiful num-bers that made those of us that are new to round dancing want to jump in!

The evening ended with Gaylen’s beauti-ful rendition of Neil Diamond’s Beautiful noise. Below are a few notes for those that want to hum along.

See you all at the next dance!

It was a fabulous June day, the best kind the PacificNW can sometimes surprise you with in June! And a Picnic it was!

The stage was set at the Sammamish grange with real hotdogs, potato salad, watermelon, cherry pie, and the works!

The girls had their best picnic outfits! Some even looked like dashing tablecloth and others had ants crawling on them!

Gaylen Sauve started off singing and joining the plus group as the crowd trick-led in. The competing Pig roast and an-

Are you hot yet?

The next monthly club dance will be held Saturday, July 28 at the Sammamish val-ley grange, Woodinville.

Plus dance starts at 7pm Mainstream at 7:30 with circle dancing tips in between.

Caller: Don Wood

Cuer: Karen Neverdowski

Theme: Ice cream Social

Come get a taste of the season with a dashing cool flavor of summer time’s favorite food - ICE CREAM!

Jo Ann will be coordinating flavors, top-pings, quantities, and the how-to in her email bulletins. So please watch for them or talk to your friendly square dancing members for further information.

We all look forward to seeing all our flavorful members at the dance!

Some of the season’s favorites:

Chocolate . Vanilla . Strawberry . Lime

Pistachio. Neapolitan . Cherry

Page 3

Lasting notes- Picnic in June makes a beautiful noise

Upcoming scoop: July Club dance We all scream for ice cream!

It's a beautiful noise And it's a sound that I love And it makes me feel good Just like a hand in a glove

Yes it does, yes it does What a beautiful noise

Upcoming: Introductory dance at the new hall! Calling all crows for a free get-acquainted club event

The Square Crows are inviting all of our members to come to a special “Get Re-acquainted” event on Friday, August 10th.

This no-risk, confidence-building dance/workshop is free for all members.

Caller: Spyder Webb Dance: Mainstream 8:00PM - 10:00PM.

We’ll have angels and other dancers to help get everybody in the swing of things. This will also be a sneak peek of

our new hall! A great wooden floor in a his-toric building! You’ll like it!

Place: Maltby Community Club, 8711 206th St SE, Snohomish, 98296

Pictures from the dance - Jun 2018

V OLU ME 45 , IS SU E 1 Page 4