The time arrived to pack up the Mighty Cruze and head north to Mansfield, Ohio for the first clogging workshop of the year!
I arrived Friday afternoon in time to experience one of Mansfield’s major attractions:
Richland Carrousel Park opened in 1991, and was recently closed briefly for maintenance work. It looked all shiny and new!
Fancy Free Cloggers paid a visit to our West Virginia “sister team” to perform at the 2019 Mothman Festival. Many thanks to Riverside Cloggers for inviting us to share this fun show with you!
Paid parking at nearby Krodel Park approached capacity by midmorning Saturday. Word is out about this cool festival! Don’t bother waiting in the shuttle line if you can walk the distance to Main Street; enjoy this mural, chuckle at the name “Piggly Wiggly” as you stroll past the grocery store, and try to cross the street with folks pushing strollers. Traffic will stop for a stroller. For me, not so much.
Do you prefer your bridges natural, broken, bouncy, or with cow? Fancy Free Cloggers encountered ALL of these during our annual Hoedown Island visit!
For those who have never been, Hoedown Island is located within Natural Bridge State Resort Park in Slade, Kentucky. Jane Bolin hosts fun dances every Saturday night during the season, which runs May - October. Hoedown Island regulars and visitors alike can partake in clogging, two-stepping, line dancing, the Virginia reel, and even the Hokey Pokey!
Fancy Free Cloggers traveled to Maggie Valley, NC for our first competition of the year. Things have changed a bit since we last clogged at the Stompin’ Ground; Shindig in the Valley is now part of the United Clogging Association circuit. This means a different rule set, different group of competitors, and a new vibe.
Smoky Mountain Encore workshop in Gatlinburg, TN is a favorite for Fancy Free Cloggers. Many non-dancing family members tag along to enjoy a mini vacation while we clog our feet off. Our young dancers were particularly excited about this year’s Disney theme and the chance to dress up as princesses in the show.
Buckeye Country Cloggers know how to host a fun workshop AND pack it up into cute prize baskets! (More on that later.) I suspect they possess some ability to control weather, as their workshop weekend ushered in a welcome relief from sub-zero temps.
OFFICIAL COMPLAINT: If they control the weather with dance, the cue sheet is noticeably absent from my syllabus. Bummer!
Dollywood Clogging Classic 2018 was a big deal for Fancy Free Cloggers. Three team members danced in their first ever clogging competition, another teammate returned to competition after an absence of many years, and yet another teammate hit the competition stage again following an injury last year.
We brought with us a crowd of spectators unused to watching clogging competitions. Not just family of the new folks, mind you; the allure of Dollywood put more butts in the seats from families of our veteran cloggers as well.
Registration for the Dollywood Clogging Classic includes admission into the park for both Saturday and Sunday at a very reasonable price. Since Saturday competition was devoted to Amateur categories, Fancy Free Cloggers had a full day to roam the park!
One caveat: Laying out your tickets and then forgetting to grab them on the way out the door gets you a longer scenic drive. Ask Dustin about that, ha-ha!
The Dollywood Clogging Classic competition has a major advantage over many events because there is so much to do in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee! My carload also found plenty to do along the way.
The Mighty Cruze departed after Molly attended a meeting for her impending high school graduation. Seriously, Molly? Get your priorities straight! DOLLY is waiting.
I arrived at Clogging Craziness Workshop on April 14 with a bad attitude. My mind was filled with (non-clogging related) worry, and I was exhausted. Despite paying in advance, I almost stayed home.
BUT... my teammate was teaching a class, I want to support clogging events in my area, and I figured a day of dance might do me good.
Cooped up cloggers in Ohio are ready to dance! Approximately 162 of us came out for the Cabin Fever workshop at Baku Grotto Hall in Mansfield. There was even a clogger from Canada in attendance! Fancy Free Cloggers brought three dancers to this event, one sporting a "spectator" armband due to a recent knee injury.
Nothing cures winter doldrums like a clogging workshop! It was my privilege to join approximately 161 delightful folks in Mansfield, Ohio last weekend to dance it out at Cabin Fever, hosted by the Buckeye Country Cloggers.
Every trip has its challenges. Same as last year, I drove the 140ish miles to Mansfield the night before Cabin Fever. The difficulty came in trying to eat dinner Friday.
Interested in trying a clogger pageant? Kaley Conn and Summer Hanson from Clogging Connection (Florida) share the preparation techniques that helped them win crowns at the Miss Southeastern Clogger Pageant.
Anybody else clueless but curious about clogger pageants? I've seen ladies wearing crowns and sashes passing out awards at clogging competitions and that was pretty much the extent of my knowledge on this topic.
Enter Kaley Conn, who was recently crowned Overall Queen for ages 12+ in the Miss Southeastern Clogger Pageant. One of Kaley's first missions as Queen is to spread the word about this pageant after she and a younger teammate both had wonderful experiences with the event
