Something To Dance About Dance Association Getting Permanent Home On Freya
Here’s the low down on the hoedown.
The North Spokane Dance Association will finally have a permanent home.
With the help of fund-raising efforts in past years, the nomad group just purchased 2.8 acres of land on North Freya at a cost of $65,000.
The plot of land is located north of the URM warehouse at 7511 N. Freya.
“We’re ecstatic,” said Norm Gauthier, dance association treasurer.
Until now, they were 300 homeless square dancers. Were it not for the generosity of various churches around town they wouldn’t have had anywhere to dos-a-dos.
Dance association officials estimate it will take $100,000 to build a permanent home. The dance group so far has raised $16,000.
“We’ve set a goal of getting it built in 2000,” Gauthier said.
The dance association has already purchased a maple floor from a school in Yakima, Gauther said. “It’s still in A-1 condition.”
The group has accomplished all this with the help of donations, yard sales, coffee and cookie sales at rest stops along Interstate 90, and neighborhood raffles throughout Spokane.
Gauthier said the dance association is also in the process of trying to secure possible grant money for the new building.
Once upon a time, the group danced in a building on what is now Highway 395, not far from the Wandermere Golf Course. But the state’s Department of Transportation bought the land, razed the building and expanded the highway.
Since then, the North Side square dancers have had to hold most of their dances at churches throughout Spokane. The group dances mostly on Friday and Saturday nights.
The North Spokane Dance Association - which is a separate organization from the Western Dance Association - is comprised of five different dance groups.
The Jack’s and Jenny’s have 90 members, the Wag-a-Rounds have 90, the Model T Square’s have 60, the Wild Rose Ramblers have 30, and the Stepping Stones, who are currently inactive, have 30 members.
Jack Blood is “caller” and “cuer” - or dance coordinator in laymen’s terms - for the Jack’s and Jenny’s. He believes it’s important for the dancers to have their own building.
“It’s more than just dancing,” said the 64-year-old Blood. “It’s friendship, camaraderie…. exercise to music and Saturday night fun.
“It’s strictly a fun-filled evening of entertainment for everybody. A three-hour Saturday evening get-together if you will.”
The nine-month square dancing season runs from September through May. But it isn’t enough to just show up and start dancing.
Anyone interested in becoming an official member must take 20 weeks of dance lessons offered by teachers in the dance group. Classes are scheduled to begin the last week of September and run to the first week in April.
The North Side dance group started five years ago. Members range in age from 8 to 80, according to Blood. However, the group has a strong appeal to senior citizens.
“But everybody is welcome,” Blood was quick to point out.
Such an invitation led Harold and Georgia Olson to each other’s arms.
Before they met, each had been mourning the loss of a spouse. Both had been married for nearly 50 years before their spouses passed away.
“As time went on, I had a friend who kept pestering me to learn how to square dance,” Georgia, 79, said. “I didn’t want to do it, but I finally just gave in.”
Meanwhile, Harold, 83, who had square danced with his former wife for most of their marriage, quit after his wife died. He said he just didn’t have the urge to do it.
But in time, Harold moved back on to the dance floor.
And that’s when the two met.
“I originally didn’t want to dance with him because he was so good,” Georgia said. “But we really hit it off and became dance partners.”
Six months later they were married. “After you get to this age you don’t wait too long to marry,” Georgia said.
The Olsens have been married for eight years now.
They agreed their lives would be lonely without each other.
“What we shared was our grief,” Georgia said, “Our square dancing was what brought us together.”