January 28, 2013
01/29/13 The 5th Annual Dancing with the Stars fundraiser for the Marshall County Neighborhood Center was held this past Saturday at the Swan Lake Resort. The evening began with hors d’oeuvres and professional photos with Photography by Jayme.
Francis Ellert from Coca-Cola served as Master of Ceremonies for the event which saw 13 dancing groups performer for hundreds of audience members.
Karen Barden, committee chairman and board member said, “We did have a great event.” Although they are still getting some checks in for table sponsorships and auction items, it looks like they will end up around $65,000 for the event. Barden said of the amount raised, “A great success, by any measure.”
Although the dancers spent countless hours perfecting their dances over the past several months the winner is determined by the popular vote of who is able to secure the largest number of votes. When the voting came to a close about 10:45 Saturday evening the fundraiser had broken a couple records. The first was: several couples who had more than 100 votes this year. Barden said, “We had more couple over 100 votes this year than we ever have.” The second record breaker was the number one couple was able to attain more than 1,000 votes.
The 6th place team of Susan and John Pasley had 107 votes.
Fifth place went to Michelle Bougher and Ed Scherer-Berry who had 125 votes.
Fourth place was the freestyle contemporary dance of Chad and Kelsey Beatty with 253 votes.
Third place went to the line dancing trio of Cindy Rash and her two daughters Nichole Rogers and Brittany Cook with 267 votes.
Tom and Carolyn Blackburn, owners of the Plymouth Ponderosa finished in second place with 335 votes.
Winners of this year’s Dancing With the Stars fundraiser for the Marshall County Neighborhood Center were Louise Mason and Don Newton who performed a Fox trot/Cha Cha melody with 1090 votes.
It was a wonderful evening with a fabulous dinner prepared by the Swan Lake Resort, dancing to the sounds of DJ Kevin Guy and entertainment by the LifePlex Dance Academy Dancers.
Funds from the Dancing With the Stars fundraiser will help to support the Neighborhood Center Food Pantry, the Five Star mentoring program at Lincoln Junior High School and community outreach for the Center.