Happy Hoppers Newsletter October 2017 Page 1

www.happy-hoppers.com October 2017

HAPPY HOPPERS NEWSLETTER

Volume 59 Number 2

President’s Message

A s I write this, the much needed rain is softly pattering outside my window. I

always have a few grieving days as summer ends but once I look ahead to all the amazing dancing coming up, my heart skips a beat. Our season got off to a slow start due to the heat of Labor Day weekend, but our first dance last Saturday was a very fun start to our year. It was wonderful to see so much bug fabric in the colorful skirts, shirts and ties. Now that we’ve had our first lesson and dance, I have to say how pleased I am with how smoothly things are going and shout out a BIG THANK YOU to all the many people that make this club so great. In our case, many hands make for a wonderful club. Thank you also to those who brought in school supplies. Randy & Jackie Amundson graciously volunteered to deliver them to the school. Other than our regular lessons and dances, you’ll want to get your calendars marked for the Seaside Sashay coming up the end of October and the Royal Romp that will be held in our own Square Dance Center the first weekend in November. I can’t wait to get my boots scootin’ and petticoat twirling at

all the fun events ahead. Hope to see many of you across a square soon. We have some fun dancing heading our way and many opportunities as a club to build relationships. We are fortunate to enjoy a very friendly community of square dancers in the Vancouver/Portland area. I am hoping we can make connections to keep all our clubs strong and growing, and reach new dancers where ever they are. Fall is in the air, and the excitement of a new season is upon us. Happy dancing! See you in a square! Melissa

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Washington State is celebrating Square Dance Week September 18-24, according to the Square & Folk Dance Federation of Washington, Footnotes magazine September 2017 edition. Reminder that we can visit the website in order to access the current and past Footnotes digital issues. http://www.squaredance-wa.org/footnote.htm

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Tom asked if I would write an article about the sale of the Clark County Square Dance Center and I said I would give it a shot so here goes. I intend to keep this as brief and succinct as possible so I will not go into a lot of detail.

The Clark County Square Dance Center was built in 1978 to accommodate the large Square Dance community that existed back then. Facilities such as the Hazel Dell Grange simply were inadequate for the large crowds. It was not uncommon to have 20 squares at a dance and Clark County had three large and active Clubs at the time. The Dates & Mates, The Happy Hoppers & The Silver Stars all of which danced at the Cen-ter. Those clubs also received many visitors from the Portland area which helped con-tribute to the large dances. In fact, it was not uncommon to hear complaints about the large crowds.

Shares were sold and the Center was built. For many years the Square Dance Community was able to cover costs. However, as the facility aged and the Dancers be-came fewer it became necessary to rent the facility to outside groups to pay expenses. (We now have only one club dancing at the center and an average dance is perhaps 5 squares.) So with an aging facility, increasing expenses and declining dancers among other issues, it was decided to sell the CCSDC.

A buyer was found (Faith Center Church). Their property and facility is directly west of the center across 117th Ave. However, once we entered into negotiations it was discovered that there was a property line issue with the property immediately north of the CCSDC. For the last approximately 18 months we have been in litigation trying to resolve the property dispute so the sale can go forward. A developer would like to build a combination of single family homes and rentals on the property and it is probably safe to say at some point the CCSDC will be surrounded by such developments.

Once the CCSDC sells I am hopeful the Happy Hoppers can work out some type of use agreement with the buyer. At this point I do not know what that might be and do not want to speculate. The Hoppers are guaranteed lessons and dances as in the past until the end of June 2018.

I realize this is a simplistic summary and I sincerely wish I could guarantee a hap-py ending but my crystal ball is a little foggy at present.

Sale of Clark County Square Dance Center By Randy Amundson

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The new Happy Hoppers website is live at https://happy-hoppers.com/. The website links to the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/HappyHoppersSquareDance/, and to the existing club newsletters and documents. A calendar feature displays significant upcoming events like lessons and dances. Website developer Ken Marshall has designed and implemented the web pages using the WordPress technology. Tom and Liza provided the initial content: text, images, and embedded video. Club members can more easily adapt the website content to future needs.

Ken provided the club with a questionnaire in order to gather requirements for the website content. Tom and Melissa answered the questions and we met with Ken in March in order to discuss the features. Melissa signed a contract to use funds from the Susan Corbit estate donation for promoting square dance, and Ken proceeded to develop the new website. Over the summer, Ken generated initial web pages and provided a detailed list of content requirements. Tom and Liza generated the initial content of text, photo images, and an embedded video that shows the public what square dance is like. Ken implemented the content in the web pages. We tested and tuned the final product, Ken trained Tom in the basics of website administration with WordPress, and the website went live on September 1, in time for the new square dance season.

A significant quality of the new design is that the WordPress application that is used to generate and maintain web pages resides on the website server, compared with other web page applications that are run on a person's computer. For example, the original Happy Hoppers website pages are maintained with an application that runs on a Macintosh computer, and the web pages are uploaded to the website server, in order to be accessed by the public with a browser program (like Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Safari). This requires another website administrator to have a Macintosh computer that runs the application, and also to maintain the latest web pages content on their computer. The WordPress application actually runs on the website, instead of a person's computer, and the administration is accessed with a browser program. The web pages content also resides within the WordPress application. The benefit is that a person can maintain the website using any computer via a browser program, and the content is visible and sharable by multiple administrators. A large quantity of text and video material exists for WordPress training.

Many thanks for Ken's collaboration that retains the best features of the original website and provides a path for adding new features that are compatible with a modern website. And thanks to Melissa for her instrumental role in initiating the project.

By Tom Halpenny

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October Birthdays October Anniversaries

CELEBRATIONS

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3

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Randy Amundson

Sharon Driscoll

Victor Gruol

Melissa James

Dianne Harland

Bridget Noland

Bill & Carla Barnell

Bryan & Katie Jones

Wally Riley & Shirley Steadman

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2017—2018 Happy Hopper Officers and Board Members

President: Melissa James

Secretary: Matt & Lise Driggers

Treasurer: Marc & Fay Kahn

PAC Delegate Bob Nichols

Evergreen Council Delegate:

Dale Smith

Past Presidents: Randy & Jackie Amundson

Lessons Coordinators: Ilona Gilzow

Laura Bonacorsi

Raeleen DeGrandpre

Website: Tom & Liza Halpenny

Visitations: Danny & Carol Williamson

Newsletter: Tom & Liza Halpenny

Club Reporter: Melissa James

Kitchen: Lew & Bev Poland

Caller/Cuer: Jim (Judy) Hattrick

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New session Monday square dance lessons with Jim Hattrick instructing 6:30 to 7:30 P.M. Plus level square dance lessons 7:30 to 9:00 P.M. Basic level square dance lessons 9:00 to 9:30 P.M. Mainstream level square dance lessons Door: Don & Joanne Oja Kitchen helpers: Rex & Jean Tolstrup

UPCOMING DANCES & EVENTS

Newsletter Editor: Tom Halpenny - Please submit articles by mid-month to gnitened@yahoo.com

Glenn Driscoll Benefit Dance — Happy Hoppers Visitation 10:45 A.M to 2:30 P.M.

Milwaukie Community Ctr

Happy Hoppers Dine Out The Old Spaghetti Factory at 5:30 P.M. 730 SE 160th Ave, Vancouver, WA Call Melissa James to RSVP

CCSDC

Jim Hattrick calling and cueing Pre rounds at 7:00 P.M. Plus dance 7:30 P.M. to 9:45 P.M. Bring pumpkin treats & desserts Door: Brian & Dianne Harland Kitchen helpers:

CCSDC

Happy Hoppers Regular Dance Jim Hattrick calling and cueing Pre rounds at 7:00 P.M. Plus dance 7:30 P.M. to 9:45 P.M. Bring finger food Door: Rex & Jean Tolstrup Kitchen helpers: Mary & Jerome Fulton Rochelle Burney

Seaside Sashay Square Dance Festival Seaside Civic & Convention Center, 415 1st Ave Callers: Dan Preedy & Darrell Kalmbach Cuer: Debbie Taylor

CCSDC

Tri-Council Dance Callers: The Wildcards—K.C. Curtis, Terry Halley, Mike Halley Cuer: Lonnie Sycks 7:00 to 7:30 P.M. Plus 7:30 to 8:00 P.M. Level 3-4 Rounds + Pre-Rounds 8:00 to 10:00 P.M. Mainstream with Level 2-3 Rounds & Plus tip

Oak Grove Community

Center