Thank you to everyone who sent thoughtful responses to my one-question survey, "Under what circumstances is it appropriate for a band to put out a hat (case, jar, etc. for tips) at a contra dance?" My reason for asking was to gather information from the greater contra community that our local committee may find useful in coming to a policy decision about this issue. Besides putting the question out to this list, I emailed individual organizers, callers and musicians from my current dance community in Gainesville, FL and from my original one in Princeton, NJ. I only specifically asked those who had been involved in the contra dance scene longer than the ten years that I have. I've had 28 serious replies all together; here are the results: I rated people's answers 1-4, with 1 being never or almost never, 2 being only if they are not being paid otherwise or have some extraordinary circumstance like being robbed on the way to the dance, 3 being it is or could be okay at a regular dance, and 4 being it's a fine idea. There was also the reply "Only if they're the ones playing", which I suspect is actually a 3. There were eleven 1s, ten 2s, six 3s, and one 4. There's really not enough info to be sure, but it does appear that the closer one is to either dancing 25 years ago or to dancing in the northeast the less likely to reply with a 3-rated answer. My own opinion would rate a 2. Thanks again, Tara