Saxonburg Fireman’s Club hosts night of line dancing
SAXONBURG — “Some like it.”
“Some love it.”
And on Saturday night, it seemed like everybody attending the line-dancing night at the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire department club wanted —
“some more of it.”
“I’ve been line dancing since I was 8,” said Brian Turner, 26, of East Butler. “It’s fun, it’s good exercise and you can make new friends.”
Turner was among more than 150 people who attended the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company line-dancing night on Saturday, Jan. 27. Open to the public, anyone 21 or older was encouraged to attend the bimonthly dance event where patrons “boot scooted” the night away to their favorite dance tunes.
Saxonburg volunteer firefighter and club committee member Sara Losco said the line-dancing night was a the perfect opportunity to get out of the house on a winter night.
“This is a good crappy-weather event,” Losco said, “because it’s inside, and you can still get all your energy out and have fun.”
At the beginning of the evening, Losco offered free line-dancing lessons. She said she wanted people of all dancing experience to be able to have fun.
“There’s no such thing as a bad line dancer,” Losco said. “If you’re willing to just go out and try, anybody can pick it up.”
Melissa Wilson, of Slippery Rock, met her husband, Chuck, while line dancing. She said she has been line dancing since she was 10 years old.
“It’s very stress relieving,” Wilson said. “You’re always moving around and having a good time.”
Rocky Sheaffer, the DJ, provided a wide variety of music for dancers to cut a rug to.
“It’s a lot of older country,” Sheaffer said. “But there is a lot of modern country, lots of modern pop stuff that they have line dances to. There’s rock songs, like Nickelback. It’s kind of all over the map to be quite honest.”
Sheaffer has been a DJ at the fireman’s club since the organization started a line-dancing night in 2016.
“We basically started doing it because we saw a need,” Sheaffer said. “There were a lot of people wanting to line dance but had nowhere to go.”
Jessica Poutous said one of her favorite things about line dancing night was the sense of community it brings.
“I think it’s a lot of fun,” Poutous said. “It’s a very giving and welcoming community. When you go out on the floor people start yelling out moves for you instead of being annoyed that you’re on the floor not knowing what you’re doing. It’s very welcoming.”
Poutous said it is also a great workout.
“It certainly rivals Zumba,” Poutous said. “It’s a full body workout, mostly cardio because you're not doing any lifting.”
The proceeds from the event “keep the lights on and keep the trucks running,” according to Dave Vicario, a club committee member and volunteer firefighter.
“The community loves it,” Vicario said. “They are very behind the fire department.”
Saxonburg, which does not have a fire tax, relies on fundraisers and donations to keep the volunteer firefighting department afloat, according to fire Chief Christopher Dean.
“We rely 100% off fundraising,” Dean said. “We do not get tax dollars or anything like that. So this is how we raise our money to be able to support what we do, and people believe in our mission statement to be able to provide for the community.”
