By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews
YACHATS – Rock ‘n’ roll fans of all ages are invited to another alcohol-free dance party at Yachats Commons Saturday night featuring local band The Grey Wails.
Doors open at 6:30pm for the event, which runs from 7pm to 10pm. Attendance has grown since the first alcohol-free party of its kind last winter, featuring rockers Lisha & The Outlaws. The gathering began as a “sober dance party” but is now billed as the Central Coast Community Dance Party.
Saturday’s event is the third in a series and is expected to attract large crowds.
“About 120 people from all over the world came to the party in May,” said Cheri Capron, a Yachats-area businesswoman who promotes Lisha & The Outlaws, one of the party sponsors. The May event drew people from the Central Coast, the Willamette Valley and as far away as Beaverton and Roseburg.
Saturday night’s party will feature a new culinary twist. Five Yachats restaurants – The Adobe, Drift Inn, Sea-Note, Luna Sea and Big Dog BBQ – have agreed to offer take-out dinners to partygoers. Seating, silverware and condiments will be available at the party.
“We want to promote our local restaurants, not compete with them,” Capron said. At the Commons, partygoers can also choose light snacks, coffee, hot chocolate, water, sodas and juices.
She described The Grey Wails as a “great classic rock dance band” and encouraged the audience to come along, pointing out that there would be tables for about 60 people and plenty of chairs along the walls.
Partygoers of all ages are welcome to the free event. “Nobody has to dance, and anyone can dance – not just couples,” Capron said.
The next party with the band Weird Science is planned for October 12th at the Commons.
Future dance parties could expand musically beyond rock. “We’ll change bands and genres and maybe offer country and reggae,” Capron said.
At the first “sober dance party” last winter, she said, “we realized our audience was much larger than just the recovery community.” So the event is now billed simply as a community dance party.
Volunteers organize, set up and clean up for the party. Sponsorship and support is provided by Lisha & The Outlaws, Polly Plumb Productions, Yachats Chamber of Commerce, Yachats Third Street Shops and the City of Yachats.
Admission is free, but donations to support the event are welcome.
