(submitted photo)
Senior Center and Glen Helen link arms for square dance fundraiser
- Published: October 21, 2025
Locals are invited to sashay and promenade with family, friends and loved ones this month as the Senior Center and Glen Helen link arms for an afternoon of old-fashioned fun.
On Sunday, Oct. 26, from 2–4 p.m., the two nonprofits will co-host a square dance fundraiser at the Glen’s Camp Greene. The event will feature live music from beloved area old-time band The Corndrinkers, with longtime caller Ceal Turnbull leading the dances.
The fundraising event sprung out of a square dance event the Senior Center hosted last year at the Bryan Center; it was enough fun, Senior Center Executive Director Caroline Mullin told the News last week, that the nonprofit went for it again, but this time decided to site the event in a location with “country charm.” Camp Greene — which features a wood-interior lodge with two fireplaces and, importantly, a wide dance floor — seemed to fit the bill.
“It’s got such a great building, and it’s sort of a natural fit,” Mullin said.
Involving the Glen as not only the host of the square dance, but a co-beneficiary, also felt natural, Mullin and Glen Helen Deputy Director Kat Christen said, as the two organizations began collaborating on programming in late 2023 via the Golden Walkers Club. The walking club, formed by Christen and Senior Center Activities and Volunteer Coordinator Maggie Dean, meets weekly, and while it’s geared toward older adults, all ages and abilities are welcome.
“It’s so important to get folks into the Glen, even if it’s just a little bit,” Christen said. “We end up doing a nice, half-mile loop every Thursday morning with a different group of people. And it’s volunteer-led.”
Mullin added that there are a number of community members who volunteer at both the Senior Center and Glen Helen, including the center’s board vice president, Sue Augustus, who along with longtime Senior Center volunteer Linda Scutt, has helped organize the event.
Scutt is famously the fiddle player for The Corndrinkers, who have been playing together for nearly half a century. The string quintet has graced many a music hall over the years, but they’re no strangers to dance halls, and square dancing runs in their musical blood.
“We started as a square dance band,” Scutt said. “We began doing square dances out at Carriage Hill Farms, which is now part of the MetroParks system. That’s how our band formed.”
Scutt said the upcoming event is designed to be inclusive and lighthearted for all ages, noting that kids “as young as 3 and 4” and on up, up, up are encouraged to attend.
“We’d like to see a lot of different ages on the dance floor,” she said.
“There aren’t always a lot of opportunities for intergenerational learning and play,” Christen added. “It’s really nice to have an opportunity to do that.”
Mullin said anyone from experts to novices, and everyone in between, is welcome to swing their partners round-and-round.
“The caller [Ceal Turnbull] does such a beautiful job of giving people the very introductory steps so people who have no concept what they’re doing can walk onto that dance floor and feel comfortable,” she said. “Most of them are giggling within the first few steps. It’s very joyful.”
Light refreshments will be provided, and if the weather cooperates, organizers hope participants will be able to step out and enjoy the fall foliage.
Noting that square dance is a tradition with a long history, particularly in Appalachian culture, Christen added that the event also speaks to a particular Yellow Springs tradition: community-oriented service.
“Volunteerism and supporting the organizations in their community — people are very generous,” she said. “Supporting the Glen with membership, supporting the Senior Center — there’s a community of service and a long history of that in Yellow Springs. I just really appreciate that.”
Proceeds from the square dance fundraiser will be split between the Senior Center and Glen Helen, both of which are navigating the post-pandemic funding squeeze that has hit nonprofits nationwide. For Glen Helen, the funds will go toward keeping trails, facilities and educational programs running strong.
“We’re working on finishing up our ADA accessible trail this fall,” Christen said. “Getting new infrastructure in, continuing to educate kids — a thousand kids or more run through the Outdoor Education Center every year — and supporting the Raptor Center.”
“We just need to keep afloat,” Mullin said of the Senior Center. “We’re not really fundraising for the [Senior Center’s forthcoming new] building yet; we just need the operations dollars to make sure we can continue our services.”
Acknowledging the needs of both organizations, Christen said hosting a fundraising event will hopefully help address those needs — but making the event a square dance, where folks come out, face-to-face, arm-in-arm, and move together in the spirit of community, aims to address a different need altogether.
“It’s important to do things that are rooted in joy,” she said. “There are a lot of things you can do to make the community better that are hard, and those things need to be done. But isn’t it nice when we can celebrate together and do something nice for the community, and have a great time?”
The joint fundraiser will be held Sunday, Oct. 26, 2–4 p.m., at Camp Greene, located at 3452 Grinnell Road. Tickets are $25 at the door or in advance at the Senior Center; kids 12 and younger will be admitted by donation. For more information, call 937-767-5751 or email info@ysseniors.org.
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