Square dancing project brings teamwork, fun to Dalton-Kidron Big 4 Club

Our 4-Hers are a creative bunch, especially when it comes to determining their own projects.

When a friend invited Lillian Ediger to a square dance, she said she really loved it and wanted others to join in. It was the kind of dance youth and adults could learn.

“So many people can do it and have the same amount of fun,” said Ediger, who thought it might be a good group project for the Dalton-Kidron Big 4 Club.

Ediger presented the idea to club advisers Abby and Ty Clark. “They got on board with it,” she said.

As a result, 49 of the club’s members completed a self-determined project in square dancing and earned an outstanding rating from two judges — Dave Kick, the square dance caller who taught them, and Laurel Strasbaugh, the club’s former adviser who retired last year.

In addition to members taking their own 4-H projects, Dalton-Kidron Big 4 annually completes a group project. This one was special to Ediger because this was her last year in the program. She’s now a freshman at Kent State Tuscarawas, where she is studying to become a veterinary technician. Through the years she’s taken animal and food and nutrition projects and is the recipient of the 2025 Diane Hange 4-H Scholarship.

To get the club started in its self-determined square dance projects, the Clarks contacted Kick, who is a caller for Wayne County Rural Youth, an organization that hosts square dances.

“He was overjoyed when we asked him,” Abby Clark said.

He came to several meetings throughout the year. He started off teaching members the basic steps, then introduced them to different dances. Each time he would spend about 30 minutes to an hour with them.

Abby Clark said the club learned three different dances, one of which was designed in Wayne County.

“Dave had fun teaching the 4-Hers, and they had fun learning,” Abby Clark said.

At first, Ediger said it was a challenge for Cloverbuds, the club’s youngest participants, but once they were paired with an older member, they began to enjoy it.

There was some hesitation among some of the members starting out, Abby Clark said, but once they got assigned to groups and got to dancing, “they were all smiles.”

Square dances require a complete set of four couples, so sometimes parents helped out to make the dances work.

As part of judging, the club performed a dance, and the judges asked the 4-Hers questions.

“So they had to demonstrate some knowledge,” Abby Clark said.

Comments on the scoresheet said members learned difficult moves and improved each day. Members also were praised for their outstanding teamwork.

“They did very well,” Abby Clark said.

The club’s booth in Building 10 at the Wayne County Fair will reflect their square-dancing project with the theme, “Do Si Do into 4-H.”

“So I’m really excited about that,” she said.

And certainly, Ediger can take a bow for a project that had the whole club dancing.

Laurie Sidle is an Ohio State University Extension family and consumer sciences and 4-H program assistant and may be reached at 330-264-8722 or sidle.31@osu.edu.