Fiddle Jam/Old Time Dance/Square Dance
At Eady Community Hall,
Fundraiser For Cope Service Dogs
On the Saturday May 17 the EADY Community Hall in Oro-Medonte Township was filled to capacity. What a day! A great day! A super day! A tremendous day!
We did it, we exceeded our goal of $5,200!
(Sandy Price and her husband Ralph live in Oro-Medonte. Sandy plays “old time” fiddle and Ralph is a square dance caller. They organized the 4th Annual, Fiddle Jam/Dance/Square Dance event to celebrate Fiddle Day and rather than charge admission they asked attendees to make a donation for COPE Service Dogs. They arranged for COPE to bring dogs to the hall and an enthusiastic group of fiddlers, other musicians, dancers, square dance callers and listeners came in numbers. People came and went throughout the afternoon, and the total attendance was estimated at 125.)
Ralph gave us an update on how the day went:
Now for the important part—how much money did we raise? In year one, we raised $2,300. In year two we raised $3,000. In year three we raised $4,500. This year we raised $5,355. This gives us a four-year total of over $15,000. As it takes $30,000 to raise and train a dog, we have funded half a dog. Not sure if it is the front end or the back end. Each end has its own way of showing its happiness and appreciation.
At the end of the day on May 17, we had a total of $5,027. When the cheque picture was taken on Wednesday, May 21, the total was $5,047 as some money had come into the COPE website. On Thursday, May 22, another $308 came into the COPE website, to give us the grand total of $5,355!
There were seven service dogs there, together with their handlers/trainers from COPE. Having the dogs there is an important part of the day, as it allows the attendees to see where their donations go. At the mid-point of the day, we get the dogs and their handlers lined up in front of the stage for a “photo shoot” and then we do what we call the “dog parade or dog dance”. A lively fiddle tune is played and the handlers can then parade their dog around the room or get them up on their hind legs and dance. When they do this, the dogs enjoy it immensely as you can tell from the vigorously wagging tails and the audience loves it. For 2026, we are exploring the possibility of having a special fiddle tune composed for the “DOG DANCE”.
We need to thank all the attendees who came and donated so generously as well as those who donated through the COPE website.
A GREAT BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OUR DONORS.
A lot of people besides the donors contributed to the success of the day and we must name them and not in any particular order:
- Arla Kirkpatrick ,on the entertainer sign-up desk
- Helen Kindy and Tammy Skrabek on the donation desk and the rest of the COPE people
- Sheila Craig and the ladies of the Craighurst Women’s Institute for hosting the snack bar
- Calvin Everett for acting as the emcee and helping set things up
- Donny Wood on the keyboard
- Wilf Creasor, who was supposed to be on the guitar, but ended up being rushed to the hospital. I’m happy to report, that Wilf is recovering and is back home
- Kathy Hummel on the guitar. A really big thank you to her for filling in for Wilf. She saved our bacon!
- Alvin Allen on the bass
- Sandy Price—lead fiddler
- Bonnie Smith, Mary Orr, Margo and Peter van Muyen and Greg Sadowski of the Eady Hall Board
- All the COPE people who brought dogs
- All those lovely Labrador Retrievers
- All the entertainers and square dance callers
- All the dancers and listeners
- All of you who distributed our flyers or posted them on Facebook
- David Rogers for making those unique bird houses that we auctioned off
- North Simcoe Life for listing the event on their website
- Valerie Selander for bringing her fiddle students
If I missed anyone, I apologize and plead innocent due to old age.
We must also thank Abigail Noble from Orillia Matters who came and covered the event and for the article she wrote. Further, we need to thank North Simcoe Life for publishing an article prior to the event and for publishing this “wrap-up” article.
It is not too late to donate. If you couldn’t be there, but feel inclined to donate, you can still do so through the COPE website here www.copedogs.org.
Click on Support, Click on Donate, enter “Fiddle Day” in Tribute and then complete the rest of the form.
All in all, a GREAT DAY and if you weren’t there you missed a real good time.
Put May 16, 2026 on your calendar, as all being well, we shall be holding the 5th annual event.