Bob CollinsThe end of square dancing is drawing nigh, at least in Worthington, Minn., where the Turkey Trotters are calling it quits, the The Globe of Worthington reports.
Nearly 200 square dancers once did the bowing and circling and twirling. Now, once the snowbirds head south at this time of the year, there are only three. You can’t do much square dancing with three people.
“It really hurts now when there are only nine members of the club,” Bernice Camery, the club’s oldest member says. “We just had so many dancers and every little town had a club — Lismore, Adrian, Sibley, Iona, Round Lake. You could go dancing every night of the week.”
I said my goal before I retired was to dance eight nights a week,” Camery said. “I never quite accomplished that, but I worked at it.”
The local dance halls are gone, and those who still can square dance are doing other things instead.
After Camery lost her husband, it was the Moores who got her back on the dance floor. Though she and Don had talked about staying involved in the club after one of them was gone, Camery said that first time back was difficult. There were so many memories, and also some worries about who she would partner with.
“She danced every dance that night,” Chuck recalled.
“We agreed that the one was not going to just sit home and mourn the loss of their partner,” Camery said of the deal she made with her husband. “We would keep on volunteering and keep on doing what we were doing and keep on square dancing.”
With the loss of a partner, Camery said several women in the Turkey Trotters have learned to dance the man’s part so they can continue dancing.
“There are a number of single widows and you want to see them dancing,” added Jackie.
“One time they needed a woman and I filled the woman’s part. I think that created more anxiety,” shared Chuck with a smile.
The last dance will be on Dec. 9.
