To the editor:

A few weeks ago, I was approached by an 8th-grade girl, Katie Delaney, and her mom, Jodi, about having a dance at the Fort Museum Opera House for 7, 8 and 9th grades. Best of all, since she is one of our volunteers, she wanted to do this as her 4-H Citizenship project and to donate all proceeds to The Fort Museum. At first, I thought, AHHHH! Do I want to do this? Then I thought, Why not? We are trying to get new things going at The Fort Museum to get more people out there so they know that we are open more than just at Frontier Days. So I agreed to the dance. Katie, her friend, Alex Tiernan, and Jodi took care of getting sponsors, a DJ, decorations, chaperones and advertising.

The night finally came, and to be honest, I was a bit nervous. Would there be a good turnout? Would there be enough chaperones? Would they be well-behaved? The answers to all of these questions was YES! We had just over 100 kids show up, and they were awesome! So polite! They even offered to help clean up the popcorn they spilled … and had everything cleaned up at the end of the night. Several parents and teachers came to chaperone and even dressed in costumes. The kids had a great time dancing and looked great in their costumes. I truly enjoyed interacting with and watching them.

Thank you to all of the sponsors: MoJo Productions, Bickford Realty, Dunkin’ Donuts, Hy-Vee, Pizza Hut, and Candies & More for your donations.

Thank you Katie, Jodi and Alex for supporting the Fort Museum. I am looking forward to the next middle school dance in December.

Laura Crowl

Fort Museum & Opera House Director

Fort Dodge