Annual salmon feed funds square dancer’s habit
When it comes to good, old-fashioned family entertainment, Jim Cline figures it doesn’t come any better than square dancing. And when it comes to outdoor cooking, it doesn’t come any better than fresh silver salmon, baked beans and potato salad.
Which brings Cline to Sunday’s 49th annual salmon barbecue at the Western Dance Center, 1901 N. Sullivan Road. The fish hits the fire at noon, and the event lasts until 4 p.m.
The day’s proceeds go to keep the square dancing association on its own dance floor.
“We have to rent the building from the city of Spokane Valley,” Cline said. “Some 40 years ago there was a bowling alley there that was torn down. The county owned the building and it allowed the square dancers to use the floor of the bowling alley and put up a building around it. They gave us free rent on it for 30 years, but after 30 years everything reverted back to the county.
“Now we have to pay rent and maintain the building, so that’s what the proceeds go for.”
Square dancers do all the cooking and serving during the event, and a group of young dancers will provide entertainment at the end of the event.
A group of square dancers trekked up to Greenbluff to collect fruitwood for the fire while others fetched 750 pounds of fresh silver salmon from Seattle to feed the day’s hungry mouths.
After almost a half-century of preparing salmon, the group has a few secrets.
“We do have a special recipe for the sauce that goes on the salmon, but I don’t know what it is,” Cline said. “We cook it over the fire and our barbecue pit is 60-feet long. When it comes on that fryer, it starts out way at the back and we work it all the way down that 60 feet of fire until it’s done. It’s moving the whole time, and we only turn it once.
“It’s delicious.”
The entire menu includes salmon, potato salad, green salad, baked beans, ice cream and a beverage. Adult tickets are $8.50. Seniors over 65 are $7.50 and children under 12 are $5.50.
“We’re open to the public, and we really try to keep things reasonably priced,” Cline said. “We want to make it so that a whole family can come and have fun.”
It’s the same with square dancing.
“It doesn’t get any more family-oriented than square dancing,” he said. “We don’t charge much for people to come in and dance. We have to pay a caller, but that’s not much. For a couple to come in and dance on a Friday or a Saturday night, it costs $8 – that’s $4 per person. They get three and a half hours of good, clean entertainment with no cussin’ or carrousin’ and they get something to eat and snack on as part of the deal.”