Eileen Silvia, Round Dance Cuer

This album (Click HERE to view) will be presented to Bob & Eileen at the Ichabod’s Christmas party on December 5, 2016

The following was posted in the October 2004 Ichabod Newsletter:

Cedarbrook Dance Center will be our new dance hall, effective October 23,

2004. We will no longer be dancing at Martin Hall. Tell all the dancers you know of the change.

Cedarbrook has a floating dance floor and a great sound system and may become the “in place” to dance as clubs move there. Also, we will no longer fight the bands in October, and the floor re-do in January, so the De Molay Center is also out. One hall fits all!

We voted this change in at the September board meeting, and we will all visit Cedarbrook this coming weekend to experience the ambiance and stuff. I guess I should notify the callers. Tom is notifying the Blue Book and Open Squares, and he will change the flyers. Bill is notifying the Lion Hosts that we will not be dancing at Martin Hall in the future. We will be signing a contract with Eileen and Bob Silvia, but we can weasel out on a couple of months’ notice. Sad to leave, but life is full of changes.

Again, notify people in your square as we dance during the month of October. Cedarbrook Dance Hall is located at 12812 Garden Grove Boulevard, Garden Grove, just east of Harbor and north of the 22 Freeway.

With that notice began a marvelous 12 years of square dancing at Cedarbrook Dance Center in Garden Grove. Eileen and Bob Silvia devoted their lives to promote Square Dancing, Round Dancing, Line Dancing, and many other activities at the center. They started with the smaller hall and added the larger hall when it became available. Nearly 5,000 square feet of dance halls with all the amenities to allow square dance clubs the finest of venues. What an asset to us all.

Eileen would open and close and cue and clean while Bob staffed the shop. Wising up, Eileen turned over the cleaning to the clubs. Besides the great floor, we had a coffee machine and water dispenser and air conditioning and fans and “Christmas” lights and decorations and tables and chairs and kitchen amenities and lockers and… the list goes on and on.

Remember when she tried Karaoke? Diana Bogucki and Fritz sang along with the music, and they were so bad that she decided to discontinue that promotion.

Following each dance theme, Eileen would dress up in the appropriate costume or hat or… Cindy remembers Eileen in a bunny suit, wearing Cindy’s bunny ears and doing the bunny hop. Da, da, da, da, da, da, hop, hop, hop!

More than once, we had dances fill both halls and a closed-circuit TV system in the smaller hall so we could dance along with those in the large hall. During one class-level dance, Judy Lech had table after table filled with slices of pie in preparation for snack time. Bill Schirmer stood at the door, welcoming dancers from over Orange County and beyond. Norma Wirta sold “treasures” at

our country store. Remember 50-50? Cindy walked in with a flaming birthday cake for Fritz – -70 candles strong. Eileen checked her insurance to be sure she was covered. We danced all night and had a pancake breakfast prepared by Phill Farmer and the boys. There are too many memories to include here. An era passed, and we celebrate Eileen & Bob Silvia for hosting us, sacrificing beyond imagination so we could dance, dance, dance. The Ichabods salute you and thank you.

Written by Fritz von Coelln

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Eileen & Bob put their heart and soul into creating a beautiful and comforting hall for square and round dancing. They spent many hours creating a venue attracting local square dancers and those traveling from afar. They built walls, painted, laid flooring, and installed twinkling lights and a sound system. They installed coffee machines so clubs wouldn’t need to haul their coffee makers to the dances. They supplied each club and instructor with storage cabinets for our kitchen items. They gave a home to local square dance clubs.

Whenever a club or class teacher couldn’t pay the going rate, guess who agreed to take less? Whenever there was a special request, their answer was always yes. Can we get in to decorate early? Yes. Can we use the small hall for our overflow dancers or serve food? Yes. Can we put on a benefit dance and get the hall for free? Yes. There must be a word for their gracious generosity.

Eileen is a superb cuer, and it’s been our good fortune to have her cueing our dances. Eileen was great at joining the fun and almost always wore costumes to our many themed dances. Would our club still exist without Eileen and Cedarbrook? Maybe, but she has made it an easier journey. Now we’ll find out what it’s like without our guardian angel, Eileen.

Written by Tom Hamilton

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The Ichabods’ first dance at Cedarbrook was on October 23, 2004, and the last was on November 18, 2016. From 2004-2007 was filmed (not digital), so the photos in this book start from 2008 to 2016.

Judy Tardie created this book, and Judy Tardie and Richard Clement contributed photos.

Since this is our last dance here at Cedarbrook, I would like you to take a moment to look around at this hall. Cedarbrook is a hall specifically created for square dancing. It has beautiful wood floors, stages, sound systems, tables and chairs, and kitchens. It’s not a hall with another primary function, like a church or school. In the past 12 years of holding our dances here, we have never been displaced by another event that may have generated more income.

Bob & Eileen wanted Cedarbrook to be more than a dance hall but a home for square dance clubs. And that’s what the Ichabods found here. In 2004 Bob & Eileen leased three office spaces at the Cedarbrook Dance Center. One room was large enough for most club dances. The other two would be used for classes and clothing sales.

When a larger adjoining space became available in 2005, they decided to expand into this larger space. Remember that these halls were not dance-ready; they had to be transformed from office space into beautiful dance halls. With help from dancers and callers, Bob & Eileen tore down walls, built new walls, installed stages, installed sound systems and coffee machines, installed wood dance flooring, and painted and improved the kitchens and bathrooms. These office spaces became beautiful venues for learning and dancing.

They became home to the Ichabods, Church Mice, Orange Coast Lariats, Cypress Twirlers, Chevron Squares, Rustlers, and Croakers. Cedarbrook became the favored venue for square dancing in Orange County.

If mistakes were made on their part, they were mistakes of generosity. Whenever a class instructor couldn’t pay the going rate, guess who agreed to take less? Whenever there was a special request, Eileen would always say yes. Can we get in to decorate early? Yes. Can we use the small hall for our overflow dancers or serve food? Yes. Can we put on a benefit dance and get the hall for free? Yes.

Unfortunately, Cedarbrook never made a profit. This was not a reason to close down but an excuse for Bob & Eileen to try harder to keep their dream alive. The struggles have been valiant, and the accomplishments have been significant, but it has become necessary to close their dream halls due to increasing lease expenses.

We will all remember and miss the good times we had learning and dancing here at the Cedarbrook Dance Center. We owe Bob & Eileen a debt of gratitude much greater than we can ever repay.

Please join me in thanking Eileen & Bob for their sacrifices and boundless generosity.

Written by Tom Hamilton and read at our last dance at Cedarbrook on November 18, 2016. He also presented Eileen with a card and a check from the Ichabods.