Let the Northwest District “Shine in 2009”

Dale and I want to thank all of the Members of the Northwest District for your support as we start our third year as President of the NW District. Because of my surgery things are not progressing as fast as we would like for them to and we apologize for that. We hope that we will be caught up in the very near future and that things will go much smoother for the rest of our term of office.

The first order of business is to announce that we will not be having an Installation of the Northwest District Officers this year. It was decided that since all of the Officers for 2009 are the same as 2008’s Officers we would not have the ceremony. Almost all of the old/new officers took the Oath of Office in 2007 and 2008 so it should carry over in 2009. This group of Officers is hoping that some of you in the NW District’s membership will step up and agree to serve on the District Board in 2010. Please, please give it some thought as the nominating committee will meet in October to present a slate to be voted on in November at the Fall Business Meeting. Some of us who have served a long time need a break!

SPRING FESTIVAL:

Our Spring Festival will be held on Saturday, March 14, 2009 at the Pioneer Room, City Hall, 1226 9th Street, Woodward, OK. Red Carpet Squares will be the host Club and have selected “Rainbow’s End” as the theme. There will be a business meeting at 3:30 p.m. All District Officers, Appointed Officers and Club Presidents in the District should have a written report ready to give. Please report on what you have done as an officer and what your club has been doing and plans to do this year. After the business meeting we plan to go to K-Bob’s around 4:45 p.m. for dinner and hope all of you will join us. Registration will start at 6:30 p.m. and Opening Ceremonies at 7:45 p.m. The Grand March will be at 8:00 p.m. with caller Bob and Lisa Rollins from the Northeast District doing the honors! This is a Visit Nine Dance and the OSDF’s Officers will be in attendance. Attire: Any pretty frock!

OSDF’s SPRING ROUND-UP:

OSDF’s Spring Round-up is March 20-22nd 2009 at the Holiday Inn, Elk City, OK. The theme is “Okie Corral” The Northwest District’s assignment is “Entertainment.” For those who will be attending please bring your western duds, a cowboy hat, boots and a lasso if you have one! Festivities start at 12:00 noon on Saturday, March 21st with Registration, Get Acquainted, Square Dance Clinic and Educational Forum. Meetings start at 3:45 p.m. for all District Officers and Callers. Dress for Dinner – the Banquet starts at 6:00 p.m., then Court, Grand March & Evening Dance, Costume Judging and Entertainment will close Saturday events. Sunday, March 22nd Church starts promptly at 8:30 a.m. followed by District Meetings, followed by General Meeting with Check Out at 12:00 noon. Evening attire – NW District Dress.

WHEELING & DEALING in the NW District:

As most of you know our publisher of “Wheeling & Dealings in the NW District,” Roland & Marcella Schroeder, resigned after serving the District for eight plus years. We do appreciate their service to our District. They have not completely resigned as they are Delegates for the NW District. However, until we appoint someone to be Publisher of “Wheeling & Dealings” we thought we would send out a monthly newsletter with District and Club information. There has been a delay on this because of my surgery and what I think is a slow recovery. We do have someone who would be interested in publishing W&D maybe later this year, Jim Robinson, who is a member of Woodward Wranglers, and formerly a publisher of W&D. He has set up a website and has news from the “Callers Corner” and “Education Director” on it as well as Club news from Red Carpet Squares and Woodward Wranglers. These can be viewed on http://www.jim-f.com/northwes.htm When looking at the roster for each club it looks as if only about half of the membership has access to a computer. I will send this “Newsletter” to those who have e-mail and mail it to those who don’t. Once we get the regular publication going again this might be a good way to save printing cost and postage. Regular mail will be going up .02 cents in May!

FEBRUARY, MARCH & APRIL CLUB DANCES:

Levis ‘n Lace Square Dance Club                                           NW Singles & Doubles Squares

2nd & 4th Fridays – When Scheduled                                     3rd Fridays – When Scheduled

Old Santa Fe Depot – Enid                                                     Old Santa Fe Depot – Enid

February 27 – Caller: Rod & Lois Ford                                  February 20 – Caller: Larry McClain

March 13 – Caller: Rod & Lois Ford                                      March 20 –

March 27 – Caller: Jim Howard                                              May 15 –

April 24 – Bobby Willis                                                            June 19 –

Red Carpet Squares                                                             Woodward Wranglers

2nd & 4th Saturdays – When Scheduled                            1st & 3rd Saturdays – When Scheduled

Feed Store – Shattuck                                                          Pioneer Room – Woodward

March 28 – Freddie McKee                                                February 21 – Ernest Haynes

April 25 – Rod & Lois Ford                                                March 7 – Danny Payne

May 9 – Don Main                                                               April 4 – Jim Howard

May 16 – Barn Dance                                                         April 18 – Lanny Weaklend

SPECIAL SQUARE DANCES:

Saturday, May 16 – Jack & Peggy Norman’s Boggy Creek Ranch “13th Annual Barn Dance” Covered dish meal 6:00 p.m. (meat provided) – Dance in the barn loft on the “NEW FLOOR”

Dance 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. – Callers: Rod & Lois Ford – Pre-dance music by “Oklahoma Wind”

July 10-11, 2009 – Route 66 International Square Dance Jamboree – Elk City, OK USA 2 casual dances on Saturday at 2 p.m. – Fri and Sat night Traditional dances at 7:30 p.m. For more info and registration forms see Jim Robertson’s web site

Sunday, September 27 – 3rd Annual Barn Dance at Dale & Jackie’s Farm – Fairmont, OK Covered dish meal 5:00 p.m. – Dance 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. – Callers: Rod & Lois Ford Look for more information closer to the dance!

Congratulations are in order to Red Carpet Squares and Woodward Wranglers who have been having Square Dance lessons and to the Wranglers on their graduation! Way to go to the clubs out West!

Hopefully this issue catches you up on the events in the NW District. There have been surgeries, illness, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. We hope everyone is recovering nicely and having a happy whatever!

It is now 1:45 a.m. Friday morning. I am rewriting this last paragraph as I have had an emergency call. My daughter, Suzanne, was scheduled to have a C-Section on my birthday, March 2nd and I was planning on being in Kansas City for ten days starting February 28th. As of this writing she is in emergency surgery and is having to have blood transfusions because her uterus ruptured. I had planned on being back before the Spring Festival but as of now I’m not sure what my plans will be. We are hoping and praying that she and the baby will be okay. As of now she is in God’s hands. Please remember her in your prayers. Will keep you posted.

We hope to see you all in a square very soon and remember . . . Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good!

Dale & Jackie Niehus, President