Greetings to all Ontario dancers! – (PDF Printable Version)

At his time of year clubs are usually celebrating the graduation of new dancers and also the end of another dance season. Unfortunately, many clubs did not dance this 2021/22 dance year; some due to problems with their rental facilities and others felt the covid situation not resolved enough take the plunge and re-open. Most clubs in the T&D region have re-opened but that is not the case elsewhere. Those clubs up and running report a significantly lower attendance than prior to March 2019.

However, let’s look ahead with optimism for this September! Most clubs will be focussing on recruitment and also encouraging all dancers to return.

Regarding recruitment, I recently read an article in the Alberta square dance newsletter, Alberta Chatter. It outlines a successful recruitment drive by an Edmonton club. (I have the permission of the editor, Claudia Littlefair, to share this with everyone!). Below is the link which outlines this project on pages 1&2.
https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/2c6c0dfa-c4fe-4f99-b27b-8a66efe06673/downloads/AB-2022-2 Newsletter.pdf?ver=1649793455633

Remember the Federation does have bursaries to help clubs with the recruitment expenses. Go to https://squaredance.on.ca/ for an application form.
Does your club have new ideas and suggestions to achieve these goals? If you have recruitment success stories and want to share them, please get in touch through the Federation webpage and we can share these in a future newsletter.

To entice your former dancers to come back, maybe you should consider a summer outdoor activity. In Peterborough the two clubs combine to host an annual driveway dance and pot-luck supper. Many parks have pavilions where a social event could be held. It is so important to maintain the social side of dancing and being outdoors may get people back to the club.

EOSARDA have applied to have a booth at this year’s International Plowing Match which will take place in Kemptville (about 35km south of Ottawa) from September 20-24. Attendance at these events usually numbers around 80,000 from all over Ontario and further afield. Should they be successful, the Federation has voted to pay for the cost of the booth. Information about all Ontario clubs will be available to hand out. If you are planning to attend the IPM and would like to help out at the booth (should they be successful), get in touch with the Federation EOSARDA rep. https://squaredance.on.ca/

Annual General Meeting

Ontario Federation will be holding the AGM on Sunday, May 29 at 1:30pm. We hope many of you will join us; your participation is important. You need to request an invitation to attend this zoom meeting by sending an email to agm@squaredance.on.ca.
Do this at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

The place to be this July is Fredericton!
2022 Canadian National Convention
Fredericton, NB. July 20-23

Click here for the convention site. What a great opportunity to get together and celebrate! The first chance to meet up with friends from all over the country – after two long years of covid. Register now and join in the fun. Updates regarding hotels and campground can be found at the link above.

If you are planning to get a new licence plate, remember the personalized square dance plates. A small amount of the cost comes back to the Federation and it is a great way to advertise our activity.

 

We hope you all have a good summer and that everyone will be back on the dance floor in the Fall!!

Submitted by: Howard and Jean Lander
Federation Publicity Reps.