Behind the Line: Dancing with Maureen Godding
BY ALYSSA QUACKENBUSH
A favorite fundraiser among many involved in the Matty K’s 7 Seas Playground is the weekly line dancing class held Thursdays at the Elks Lodge and hosted by Maureen Godding.
Since the nature of the line dancing classes isn’t quite conducive for social distancing, they’ve been stopped for months now. Hoping to add the gift of song and dance back into Marshfield after a stir-crazy and stressful few months, Maureen and the Matty K Organization decided to hold an outdoor, social distancing dance lesson on June 24 in the Rexhame Beach parking lot, right by the playground.
The event was a huge success, with over 100 people stopping by as participants, tailgaters, or playground-goers. Each participant had their own parking spot as a dancing space, and with simple moves and a really upbeat playlist, the event proved to be such a great way to bring people together that the organization plans on holding another dance lesson on Wednesday, July 22, with the rain date being the following day, July 23. The party starts at 6 pm and goes until sunset around 8:30. The bathroom and snack shack will be open, and of course, the playground is there for the kids, so Maureen encourages everyone to bring their chairs out to watch or join in on the fun!
Rather than a fundraiser, these outdoor dancing events are more for the purpose of bringing people together through music and dance. Maureen says that the focus and fun of dancing around family, friends, and strangers alike can easily take your mind off of the stresses of day-to-day life for a while, and she hopes that what participants take away is a fun memory and greater sense of peace. After all, music and dance can be incredibly therapeutic.
The release that dancing brings has been a constant for Maureen and everyone who is a fan of the line dancing nights for the entirety of the Matty K’s 7 Seas Playground’s story. In 2016, Maureen’s son, Matt Kelly, passed away suddenly. Matt was loved by everyone that met him and hoping to do something in his honor, the idea came to Maureen and her husband to do something at the beach that Matt loved growing up here in Marshfield. So, at Rexhame, where there was some underutilized space, Matt’s family decided that a great way to honor him would be through a playground for the kids. Thus, the idea for Matty K’s 7 Seas Playground was born.
After a variety of large and small scale fundraising events, including line dancing, the team had finally gathered enough funds for the initial build of the playground, which they gifted to the town of Marshfield. Since the grand opening on Mother’s Day 2018, the Matty K’s 7 Seas Organization has been able to continue fundraising for new additions and enhancements to the playground and surrounding area.
The playground itself, which is geared toward the 2 to 5-year-old age bracket, has gotten upgraded with a sand table, a sign language panel, and a tic tac toe game last year in 2019. 2020 saw even more additions that the older kids can enjoy, such as picnic tables complete with umbrellas adorned with Matty’s “hang loose” logo and checkerboards that double as tic tac toe boards. On hold for the time being is a life jacket rental program for the smaller kids, which will become available after we get out on the other side of the pandemic.