Lac-A-Do Hall
Square and round dancers in Olympia are fortunate. We have a beautiful dance hall reserved solely for square and round dancing with a 55' x 60' maple floor, raised stage, hearing enhancement, break room, excellent acoustics, and ample free parking. The land was donated in 1962 by George and Madge Ames, with the stipulation that it would only be used for square and round dancing. Local dancers donated time, materials, and equipment, and a hall was completed in 1963. On Memorial Day, 1995, there was a fire and the hall burned to the ground. Again, dancers in the area came together and built a new hall, even better than the first. Lac-A-Do Hall was reopened to much fanfare on the 1st of March 1996. The hall currently hosts seven clubs dancing mainstream through advanced and rounds through phase 6.
So how do you pronounce Lac-A-Do? It's LAK-uh-doe. What does it mean? Good question, and the cause of many long discussions. It depends on whom you ask. The prevailing story is that there was a shortage of money during the building of the original hall - a lack-of-dough, so to speak. They used donated timber (trees), even held bake sales and garage sales to cover costs. You may also hear that it is a combination of the names of two of the local square dance clubs at the time–the "Lacey Daisies" and the "Olympia Do-Si-Dos." We assume both origin stories are simultaneously true making for a convenient coincidence.