Shannon Dey Zuanich performs with her handmade hoops on the first day of the Snohomish Farmers’ Market in Snohomish on May 3. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)

Shannon Dey Zuanich performs with her handmade hoops on the first day of the Snohomish Farmers’ Market in Snohomish on May 3. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)

There’s plenty of hoopla to go around

… and around, and around. Just ask Gold Bar hula hoop creator Shannon Dey Zuanich.

GOLD BAR — She found happiness in a plastic circle.

Now she spreads the joy of handmade hoops at farmers markets and festivals.

Look for the pink tent with a 40-year-old woman spinning around with full centrifugal force.

What’s up with that?

Shannon Dey Zuanich makes hoops to fit your fancy and get you out of your shell.

It’s hard to take yourself too seriously while twirling inside a colorful ring.

”When I am inside a hula hoop I am in my own bubble,” Zuanich said. “The rest of the world just melts away and I feel cradled. It’s like being hugged by a rainbow.”

(And, yes, she sometimes calls them hula hoops, even though they are not licensed by the Wham-O toy company.)

Zuanich, owner of Pixie Dance Hoops, creates the hoops by hand with plastic tubing she festoons with glittery tape and bling. The Everett native has a studio at her home in Gold Bar, where she moved in 2005 with her two kids for the country life.

She also makes a line of butterfly and fairy “ear wings” that clip on lobes for a pixie look, hence the name Pixie Dance Hoops. The wings are for cosplay (games involving costumes), dress-up or to look flashy while hooping.

The hoops, starting at $20, are not one-size-fits-all.

“Beginners need a bigger hula hoop because the longer it takes to do a rotation around your body so it gives you more time to react and find your own balance,” Zuanich said. “It’s like creating a 3-dimensional vortex of sacred geometry around your physical body by using your natural rhythm, balance and focused energy.”

At Friday’s Mill Creek Farmers Market, she invited shoppers to join in the hoopla at the pink tent.

She fitted Abby Rollings with a hoop, and the 7-year-old Everett girl rocked the ring.

“I’ve never done it that long, actually,” Abby said.

“You’ve had the wrong size hula hoop,” Zuanich explained.

Abby’s parents bought her a sparkly hoop that matched her sparkly shoes.

Zuanich also makes hoops for fitness and dance. “Some coil down half the size so you can take them on an airplane.”

So you can take it to the beach to show you off your toned abs.

From hooping?

Yep.

This is legit exercise.

Remember first lady Michelle Obama hooping it up for health with an impressive 142 swivels before her hoop hit the ground?

There are hoop exercise classes online and at fitness centers.

The Mayo Clinic weighed in, saying hooping “can provide similar results to other types of aerobic activities … On average, women can burn about 165 calories in 30 minutes of hula hooping, and men can burn about 200 calories in 30 minutes of hooping.”

Hear that, fellas?

Zuanich can make you a hoop in Seahawks colors.

Hula hoops have come a long way since the 1950s, when the craze swept the country, thanks to Wham-O toy company. The hoop was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 1999.

Hoops are used by gymnasts, circus performers, jugglers and fire-spinners.

For Zuanich, a bartender for 17 years, hoops led to new career.

As she tells it: “In 2010 my heart was broken. I was at work in a nightclub one night and I found a dusty old hula hoop hanging from some rafters. It was a slow night and I brought it out to the dance floor. I’m pretty shy and have terrible stage fright so I usually use humor as a shield. I goofed around with the hula hoop and acted like a clown to entertain my coworkers and make them laugh. They soon got bored and I was left on the dance floor by myself, but I didn’t care.

“Something was happening. I was having fun, I hadn’t had fun or smiled in months. I closed my eyes and I danced for hours. I hadn’t noticed the bar filling up with customers. I was dancing and waving my arms around and somehow the hoop flew up over my head and I caught it. I spun in a circle and brought it back down onto my body and continued to hula hoop.

“And that was it. Everyone clapped and whistled. It became the new love of my life. I started hoopdancing every day. I was addicted to the euphoria it created.”

It replaced an old habit. “I’d become a black-out binge drinker. I quit drinking completely in June of 2014 and have been sober since,” she said.

After five years of making hoops for herself and friends, she started Pixie Dance Hoops. “On a whim with no money but what I had in my pocket and no clear idea of how I was going to make it work,” she said.

That was three years and hundreds of hoops ago. Her son, Tycen, 24, and daughter Shea, 21, help when needed.

Zuanich gives free classes at Sultan gazebo on Main Street on Wednesdays. She also does hoop birthday parties. Look for her pink tent at events or find her on facebook at www.facebook.com/pixiedancehoops.

Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Olivia Vanni / The Herald 
The Mukilteo Lighthouse. Built in 1906, it’s one of the most iconic landmarks in Snohomish County.
The Mukilteo Lighthouse. Built in 1906, it’s one of the most iconic landmarks in Snohomish County. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mukilteo mayor vetoes council-approved sales tax

The tax would have helped pay for transportation infrastructure, but was also set to give Mukilteo the highest sales tax rate in the state.

Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring gives the state of the city address at the Marysville Civic Center on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, in Marysville, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Marysville council approves interim middle housing law

The council passed the regulations to prevent a state model code from taking effect by default. It expects to approve final rules by October.

x
State audit takes issue with Edmonds COVID grant monitoring

The audit report covered 2023 and is the third since 2020 that found similar issues with COVID-19 recovery grant documentation.

Bothell
Bothell man pleads guilty to sexual abuse of Marysville middle schoolers

The man allegedly sexually assaulted three students in exchange for vapes and edibles in 2022. His sentencing is set for Aug. 29.

Larsen talks proposed Medicaid cuts during Compass Health stop in Everett

Compass Health plans to open its new behavioral health center in August. Nearly all of the nonprofit’s patients rely on Medicaid.

Snohomish County Health Department Director Dennis Worsham on Tuesday, June 11, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County Health Department director tapped as WA health secretary

Dennis Worsham became the first director of the county health department in January 2023. His last day will be July 3.

Police Cmdr. Scott King answers questions about the Flock Safety license plate camera system on Thursday, June 5, 2025 in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mountlake Terrace approves Flock camera system after public pushback

The council approved the $54,000 license plate camera system agreement by a vote of 5-2.

Community members gather for the dedication of the Oso Landslide Memorial following the ten-year remembrance of the slide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
The Daily Herald garners 6 awards from regional journalism competition

The awards recognize the best in journalism from media outlets across Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Community Transit saw a 17% jump in ridership from 2023 to 2024. Photo courtesy of Community Transit.
Snohomish County transit agencies seeking comments on planning docs

Community Transit and Everett Transit are preparing documents that lay out a path for future service and infrastructure improvments.

U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen talks with Volunteers of America leadership to discuss the consequences of the federal cuts on Monday, June 30, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Federal cuts to LGBTQ+ youth hotline to hit Everett center

U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, visited the call center Monday to discuss impacts of the cuts, including longer wait times and staff layoffs.

U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, right, goes over a Chinook Marsh Project map with Snohomish County Surface Water Management’s Michael Rustay, left, and Erik Stockdale, center, at the project site on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024 in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County receives $10 million grant for floodplain management

The state Department of Ecology funding will go toward 13 projects across the county working to restore habitat and support climate resiliency.

The Washington state Capitol. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard)
These Washington laws take effect July 1

Fee hikes for hunting and fishing licenses, workplace protections for immigrants and… Continue reading

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.