McCauley-Rice Folk Dance Scholars have enriched the local folkdance community since 1979. Nearly 40 dancers have attended camps at Stockton and Mendocino, or have attended balkanalia! in Portland on these scholarships and they have returned to share what they have learned in Oregon and around the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

DONATE to our Scholarship Program: Any amount is welcome!

Send CHECK made out to:
James McCauley Memorial Scholarship Fund
2921 NW Hayes Ave., Corvallis Or  97330

VENMO e-transfer to: @Mary-Bucy

The scholarship was established in memory of two dancers who were active with the Hoolyeh program for many years.

Jim McCauley  1920-1978

Jim McCauley met his wife, Betty, dancing at UW in the late 1940s. They danced together and raised their kids dancing with Hoolyehs in Corvallis. Over the years, they drove scores of young children and teenagers to parties and festivals around the Pacific Northwest—driving home in the wee hours of the morning while piles of kids slept in the back of the station wagon (before seat belts, of course). Betty still attends Hoolyeh dancing, though mostly to watch and catch up with friends these days

Hildred Rice  1907-1998

Hildred Rice ran Hoolyeh folk dancing through Corvallis Parks and Recreation from the 1960s through the mid-1970s. She got hundreds of kids up and dancing, teaching young children on Saturday mornings, teens and adults on two weekday evenings. During 1970-72, 140 high school students danced every Thursday evening as she ran the music for them. Several summers she rode along in her car as teens drove to Stockton Folk Dance Camp on a scholarship she funded, in part, by selling hundreds of placemats. Hildred’s dancers from those years are helping to run the Hoolyeh and Friends Folkdance Party.