Labor Day Weekend, September 2 to 5, 2022
The roots of Northwest Passage can be traced to 1979 when
the English and Scottish country dancers had a fall weekend getaway at
Camp Westwind on the
Oregon coast.
They repeated the weekend at Camp Magruder
in 1980. These first two camps were organized by individuals - PCDC
did not yet exist. However after the 1980 weekend, a group of the camp
organizers decided to create a formal organization, which could oversee the
camps and other dances. This was how the Portland Country Dance Community came
into being. Dick Lewis and Molly Libby, both ECD callers, were the early
organizers of PCDC.
By 1982, the camp was established at
Suttle Lake on the 3rd
weekend in
September, remaining on this weekend until sometime in the later ‘90s when
it was forced to move to Labor Day Weekend because of the availability of
the facility. Most people preferred having the 3-day longer camp, so it
became re-established on this weekend. Over this period of time, the nature
of dancing and music evolved. The English beginnings of the camp remained
very strong at first, but gradually contra dancing gained popularity and
contra dance organizers became part of the weekend committee. The focus
remained on two different dance types each year alternating between contra
and English one year and contra and something else (Scandinavian, swing,
squares) the next year. music workshops were always a prominent feature of
the weekends.
In 2003, the camp needed to make a very sudden move because forest fire
crews were stationed at the Suttle Lake facility. The camp was then held at
Camp Namanu, near
Sandy. Dancers hugely preferred this location over Suttle
Lake, so it continued there, still with the alternating dance format.
In 2009, another move was forced on the weekend when Namanu
became unavailable over Labor Day Weekend. The camp then relocated to its
current location at Kiwanis on Mount Hood.
In 2014, the camp underwent a major change in format. The alternating
years remained, but 2014 was all English Country Dance, followed by 2015 all Contra
Dance. 2022 is an all-English year. And the tradition continues...