The Portland Megaband has been in existence since 1996. Every year, we play a Portland Country Dance Community benefit contra dance on the second Saturday of March. In addition to that, we play a contra dance slot at the Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle every other year (2016 will not be a Folklife year for the band). Every time we have played, it has gone very well–the dancers have loved it, and we musicians have had a blast. So far, we have always been able to achieve a cohesive, tight sound. The first time we played, there were 25 of us. In March 2015, we had 75 musicians and 500 dancers! The band is organized and directed by Erik Weberg and me (Sue Songer).