HISTORY OF STRAWBERRY SQUARES DANCE CLUB

PASADENA , TEXAS

STRAWBERRY SQUARES was formed in October 1979. Joe and Nancy Hollis decided that they would like to have a square dance club in Pasadena as many of their friends and fellow church members at First United Methodist Church had expressed a desire to learn to square dance.

Joe and Nancy and Daymond Mayhall had taken lessons together and had been members of St. Paul ’s Promenaders since 1963, Daymond was now calling. St. Paul ’s Promenaders had just disbanded and Joe and Nancy wanted to continue to square dance. They asked Daymond if he would help them. He agreed to help and to be the caller for the club. Then three of them arranged a meeting with the minister and board of the First United Methodist Church and agreed upon the structure of the club. The club was originally a part of the education division of the church. It was agreed that as a part of the church, all officers of the club would be members of the church. This rule stayed in effect until the club moved to the Moose Lodge in 1985. The club moved as the church had sold its facilities across the street from Pasadena High School to the Salvation Army. The club moved to the Moose Lodge while the new church was being built. We moved back to the church in our present location in June of 1986.

STRAWBERRY SQUARES was chosen as the name of the club because Pasadena at one time was known as the Strawberry Capitol of the world.

Daymond Mayhall is the only club caller our club has ever had. He has called for our many exhibitions and dances we have done for various groups:  Pasadena has a sister city in Hadona , Japan , and when the contingent visits from Japan , we always dance at the dinner hosted by the mayor. We make an annual visit to New Braunfels for the Fun-Sti-Toot dance hosted by the Gulf Coast Callers Co-op. We put on various exhibitions for the local schools and nursing homes.

On October 23, 2009, our caller, Daymond Mayhall, received the honor of being inducted into the Texas Callers’ Hall of Fame.  The award was presented to him at the 61^st Houston Hoe-Down Dance in Galveston , Texas .

We have lessons every year and graduate a class in May. We feel very blessed to have such a fun and exciting club that is still going strong after all these years.