Fun, friendship at Wayne County dances not just for rural youth
Attendance at Wayne County Rural Youth dances ranges from 100-200. Those of all ages are invited to show up with their $5 cover charge, no reservations required.
Wayne County Rural Youth wants people to know their quarterly dances aren’t only for rural youth. Everyone is welcome.
The nonprofit organization was established 85 years ago when the Young Farmers’ Association and the Senior Girls’ 4-H Club wanted to provide additional social opportunities. Dances, road rallies, hayrides or corn roasts were held monthly for those age 18-29, beginning in 1936. Dances were usually held in barns that had been cleared out and given a good sweeping.
By 1996, with more young people attending college and working, attendance had lagged, and the organization disbanded. Dave and Ann Tschantz of Smithville were instrumental in its resuscitation a decade later.
“There weren’t many activities for young people,” Ann Tschantz said, “so with the help of some former WCRY council members and interested youth, we were able to revive the organization. Dave, an attorney, filed the necessary papers with the Secretary of State and drafted the bylaws.”
The organization now hosts only dances, and the Tschantzes’ efforts were well received; attendance ranges from 100-200. Those of all ages are invited to show up with their $5 cover charge. No reservations are required, and light refreshments are served.
Lily Bickett of Wooster has attended dances for the past five years.
“I have fun and get to spend time with friends I don’t see often,” she said. “Everyone is super welcoming. People who come alone always find a nice group to dance with. The atmosphere is lively, and there’s plenty of laughter as we learn to dance together. It’s great exercise too.”
Dave and Ann Tschantz each have served several terms as chairman of the board and currently serve as vice chairman and secretary, respectively. Ann Tschantz’s involvement extends even further. As a child she attended WCRY alumni carry-in dinners and square dances with her parents and regularly attended dances as a young adult. She now lends her talents to the live music heard at the dances.
“After my uncle, Mel Stocksdale, asked me to join his band,” she said, “I played my first WCRY dance in 1978, and I’ve been playing ever since.”
The Mel Stocksdale Band now consists of organist Ann and her cousin, Tom Stocksdale, on drums. Dave Kick of Apple Creek is one of the square dance callers. Hoedown-style square dancing is the predominant dance, but there’s also line dancing, for which recorded music is often played.
“Country line dancing, the electric slide, you name it,” Kick said. “We also feature circle/mixer dances, where everyone joins in one big circle for square dance moves.”
A popular feature is the cake walk, with cake or doughnuts as a prize.
“People come from all over the county, from Wooster, from ATI, even from out of state,” said Kick, who also serves as current chairman of the board, which consists of nine members and oversees financial and legal matters.
A council of five, age 18-30, advises the board and helps organize the dances including decorations and refreshments.
Bickett has served on the council for the past year. “I like the sense of community,” she said, “and in hosting these dances, it feels like we’re keeping a tradition alive.”
“Entire families attend the dances,” Kick said. “We have everyone from children to ninety-somethings come out and dance or just sit and enjoy the music. People can feel secure in knowing this is good, clean, safe, alcohol-free fun.”
Kick has attended since age 10 and met his wife, Rachelle, at WCRY. Many marriages sprang from the dances including that of his parents, Carl and Kaye Kick of Wooster. While they no longer dance, they have been attending the dances for 67 years and still enjoy watching the fun. Both began attending upon graduation from high school, Kaye from Wooster and Carl from Dalton. They mostly square danced but also did ballroom dancing, waltzes, polka, foxtrot and jitterbug.
“There would be two or three hundred people there,” Kaye Kick said. “The girls would sit on one side of the room, the boys on the other. When the announcer would say pick your partner, the boys would run over and ask us to dance. We wore saddle shoes or black patent leather flats with bobby socks and full skirts with crinoline petticoats. The boys would swing us right off the floor, and our petticoats would swirl.”
Carl Kick first asked Kaye to dance at the Grange Hall in Jefferson in 1954.
“We didn’t start dating until a couple years later. My girlfriends and I always said we’d never marry farmers; we thought we were city girls. But in 1957 I married my farm boy,” Kaye Kick said.
These days dances are generally held the second Saturday of the month in February, April, June and November from 7-10 p.m. Free lessons begin 15 minutes before each dance. Although the pandemic disrupted the normal schedule, the next dance will take place June 12 in the Kister Building at the fairgrounds.
“Our name is a bit misleading,” Dave Kick said. “We want everyone to know about Wayne County Rural Youth.”
For the schedule and additional information, see the WCRY website at www.waynecountyruralyouth.org or its Facebook page. The group also has Instagram and Twitter accounts.