West County Gives Away
a Free ABA Cruise
The West County Swing Dance Club of St Louis hoisted anchor and sailed out to sea for their August monthly dance. The dance theme was “Come Cruise With Us”. Everyone was told there would be a special give away at the dance but they weren’t told what it would be. We built up the suspense over four weeks as a special surprise for one lucky member.
WCSDC had decided to really throw our support behind the ABA and the ABA cruise, and at the same time reward our members for helping us grow into one of the largest swing dance clubs in the U.S. We are extremely privileged that our current membership is just under 1,000 dancers.
All the August dance decorations were cruise theme related. Members and guests where told to wear their favorite cruise clothes to the dance. We had sailing ships and waves decorated onto the cakes. We did everything we could think of to help enhance the feeling that we were all dancing on a cruise ship on the sea.
Each member was given a ticket at the door for the drawing to be held immediately following the club announcements. We appointed a special “Cruise Director” for the night, Mr. Bud Waters, our immediate past club president.
Bud set up a special table near the entrance to the dance. He had ABA flyers and cruise ship pamphlets. He set up a laptop that had a slide show pictures from previous ABA cruises. Bud even rented a special Captain’s coat and hat to wear for the occasion.
It was a fun night as the suspense built. Then came time for the drawing. We announced that the surprise give away was a free ABA cruise to one lucky WCSDC member. Loud joyful shouting and clapping filled the room. It was hard to get the crowd to quiet down so we could draw a ticket and announce the winner.
The lucky winner was Karen Lake. She was one very happy dancer, smiling from ear to ear. Karen has been a member of WCSDC for about a year and a half. She and her husband are looking forward to a great time in January. And, you want to talk about family luck. Karen’s husband won the 50/50 drawing that same night.
So, all you ABA cruise shipmates, be looking to meet Karen in January and ask her husband if he’ll buy you a drink from his 50/50 winnings.
