DANCING IN THE STREETS

Main event for Willamette’s 100th birthday is a big hit

By Joelle Cheek

The West Linn Tidings, Jul 17, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Vern Uyetake / West Linn Tidings

West Linn resident Tim Murphy swings to the music with his daughter, Kelsey, 3, at Saturday’s Willamette Centennial Celebration Street Dance.

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The music from the Boomer Band echoed into the summer evening as the sun set on another beautiful summer day. But the party had just started.

The Willamette Centennial Celebration Street Dance held on Saturday was full of energy and gave the community a heart again, West Linn resident David Caraher said. Caraher’s wife, Joyce, enjoyed the music the most because she is a musician as well.

Fellow West Linn residents felt the same way about the event celebrating the Historic Willamette district’s 100th anniversary of its incorporation.

Poodle skirts worn by the West Linn High School dance team added to the festive summertime fun. Hay bails, with little kids on top, surrounded the stage for a night of music and dancing.

“There’s a great turnout, a great response,” entertainment coordinator for the celebration Pauline Beatty said.

The idea for having a street dance to commemorate the historical birthday came from the community members themselves. The committee members wanted to hold an event to bring back childhood memories to comemorate the last 100 years of the town’s life.

“We interviewed the older families and everyone talked about their street dances when they were little,” Beatty said.

Bob and Judy Isley reminisced about how in the 50s and 60s a street fair was held a week before the Old Time Fair.

“Everybody knew everybody then,” Bob Isley said.

Isley has been a volunteer fireman for the past 30 years and has attended every fair except for one. His wife, Judy, enjoyed the entire day’s activities especially when community members who have lived in the district for up to 90 years were honored she said.

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