Square Dancing: It’s Just What You Do In Prairie Grove

PRAIRIE GROVE — Square dancing has been going on at the Prairie Grove Clothesline Fair for more than 50 years for one main reason, past dancers say: It's just what you do in Prairie Grove.

“I'll put it this way. It was just expected of you,” said Farmington High School coach Jay Harper, whose oldest daughter, Callie, 13, now is the third generation in his family to square dance in Prairie Grove over the Labor Day weekend. Her group is named Cowboys & Curls and they've been together for 10 years.

His youngest daughter does not dance yet but he and his wife are looking for a group for her, he said.

Harper's mother, Janice Harper, square danced during high school but her own children started young. Jay Harper said he was 4 years old when he started and danced all the way through his senior year at Prairie Grove High School.

He noted that people who did not grow up in or around Prairie Grove would not understand what a tradition it is for the small community.

“It's big time in our town,” Harper said. “It's our festival. I think it pulls the community together and people really enjoy it.”

Janice Harper said her three children loved square dancing. Back

then, there was not even a question, her kids were going to dance, she said, adding, “There was no doubt that Callie was going to dance.”

The grandmother has retired to Destin, Fla., but said she returns every Labor Day for the annual Clothesline Fair and the square dance exhibitions and competitions.

Most people agree that Peggy Parks of Prairie Grove started the square dancing tradition at the Clothesline Fair, though Parks is reluctant to take all the credit. She was a fourth-grade teacher in Prairie Grove at the time and remembers watching a high school group do the Virginia Reel folk dance.

“That's what gave me the idea. I thought my kids can do that,” Parks said.

She taught her fourth-graders how to folk dance and she thinks the first group probably performed at the Clothesline Fair in 1958.

“It's a fantastic story,” Parks said. “Perhaps I did start it but there were others involved in it also.”

Ron Stinchcomb of Prairie Grove was in Park's class and was one of the first groups to dance at the park. He danced through high school with the same group of friends.

The uniqueness about it, Stinchcomb said, is that square dancing encompassed a lot of different student groups or cliques at the school.

“If you take a look at the decades, at 13 or 14 years of age, it's not cool to square dance, yet those groups have done it all through the years at Prairie Grove,” Stinchcomb said.

Stinchcomb laughed when asked why he stayed with it through high school, saying, “The girls wouldn't let you quit. There were moms involved.”

Moms may play a bigger part in square dancing than many people realize.

Mandy Bartholomew's daughter, Camree, also dances with Cowboys & Curls and she admits that a group of moms planned out the square dance group for their children while they were still pregnant.

She has a nephew who's only two years-old but said, “I'm sure he already has his group planned.”

Bartholomew is from Lincoln and only participated in square dancing at the Clothesline Fair for one year but she said her husband and his family danced the whole time.

“Mostly, that's what you did in Prairie Grove,” Bartholomew said.

Nearby towns, such as Lincoln and Cane Hill, have tried to create their own square dance tradition but have not been as successful, Bartholomew said.

“I think the Clothesline Fair and square dancing are kinda what is traditional together, like the Grape Festival and spaghetti,” she added.

The first square dances were held outside the Latta Barn on a stage built specifically for the dances.

Dr. John Bain, a Farmington dentist who grew up in Prairie Grove, remembers it was “neat” to stomp around on the plywood. Families and spectators sat on the stone wall or on chairs to watch the dancers.

“It's just such a neat family oriented thing,” said Bain, whose sons also square danced when they were younger.

Today the square dances are held at the amphitheater at the Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park and the grassy slope around the stage is filled with family, friends and others.

Another change over the years has been the addition of professional square dance callers.

Parks said that added a new dimension to the dances and improved the quality of the show.

Parks thinks that another reason the tradition has continued is that as the younger kids grew older, they turned around and taught those behind them.

“I think learning it from other children is more fun. It made it a fun thing for Prairie Grove to be known for and that made me proud. It didn't continue because of me. The students carried it on and that makes me doubly proud.”

Shawn Fidler's son, Clay, is another member of Cowboys and Curls and Clay is a second-generation dancer.

“When I was his age, you didn't have a choice,” Fidler said. “If you're from here, it's what you do, you square dance.”

The tradition has spread out and caught on. Dance groups come from Farmington, Lincoln, West Fork and other areas each year.

“It just brings everyone into the little town of Prairie Grove,” Fidler said.

Parks added, “This is over 50 years old. Isn't that amazing? It has been such a precious thing for Prairie Grove.”