Ken Mangrum, center, and his wife Maybelle have been square dancing for 37 years. They are part of the Friendship Squares group that meets every Tuesday night at the East Point Community Center. (Christy Perry for The Cullman Tribune)
EAST POINT, Ala. – What do the terms Ferris wheel, ocean wave, see saw and shoot the star have in common? They are just a few of the fun square dancing calls heard Tuesday nights at the East Point Community Center. The Friendship Squares have been meeting at the center for a decade for a night of dancing and fellowship.
This Tuesday the club, led by caller Jim Melton, welcomed representatives from the Indiana State Square Dancing Convention to the hall. Bill Garrison and Paula Egenolf have been traveling and visiting square dancing clubs to promote their state convention scheduled for November in French Lick, Indiana.
Garrison, who serves as the hospitality chairman for the Indiana convention, has been square dancing for 59 years. He was taught as a youngster at an Air Force Base in North Dakota.
He worries about the future of square dancing, saying, “There is a decline in popularity. There’s so many other things out there the young folks would rather do. The national convention used to have over 35,000 attend. Last year it was closer to 3,500.”
Square dancing is a dance dating back to 16th century Europe and its popularity in the United States got a giant boost from Henry Ford.
Melton explained, “Henry Ford built a square dance hall at Dearborn, Michigan and he hired a guy to come up and teach square dancing. He was supposed to stay six months but ended up staying 30 years. Ford paid him well and gave the man a new car every year. When Ford died, the guy left and nobody ever heard from him again or knew what happened to him. That dance hall is still used today.”
The Friendship Squares love the dance style and through that love have become great friends. The night was full of dancing and laughing but also concern. Club President Hulda Schaefers and others recognize that fewer younger people are participating or learning square dance. They want desperately to change that.
Maybelle Mangrum said, “(My husband) Ken and I have been dancing for 37 years regularly. I mean we’ve never stopped. It keeps you young.”
Maybelle, who has battled breast cancer twice, and Ken, who has cancer and is currently undergoing chemotherapy, credit their dancing with keeping them going.
Added Maybelle, “I just wish more young people would come out and dance with us. It’s fun and let’s face it, we’re getting old and I’m afraid if new people don’t come we will not have anyone to dance with.”
The Mangrums and two other couples from the Friendship Squares will travel to Pigeon Forge next week for the 29th Annual All Western Smoky Mountain Ball. The ball will feature Melton and other callers from around the country. The festival will include workshops in both square dancing and line dancing.
The club is hopeful that people in Cullman will come out April 23 and 30 when beginner lessons begin at the East Point Community Center. The first two lessons are absolutely free and each lesson after that is only $10. Melton would love for people to come out and give a try. Members Calvin Wright and Linda Murray have worked to recruit new members and promote the many benefits.
Wright promised, “You gotta try it! You will love it’”
The club meets each Tuesday night from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the East Point Community Center. If there is a state or local election, the club does not meet at the center as it is a designating polling station. Refreshments are served and there is also a 50/50 raffle at each meeting. The group focuses on square dancing, but it does mix in line dancing occasionally.
The East Point Community Center is located just to the southwest of the intersection of Alabama Highway 69 and Alabama Highway 157.
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