By Dee McPeek
Special to The PREVIEW
Only two days left until Dancing with the Pagosa Stars debuts on Saturday, July 14. This new event has paired eight local “stars” with professional dancers from around the area. These couples have worked countless hours perfecting dances they will showcase at the event.
Our stars, Cindy Houston, Fran Lohr, Lisa Miranda, Tammy Searle, Brad Ash, Bob Brobst, Brent Christians and Jacob Miskimens, have sold seats to the event, taped emotional videos, purchased their own costumes and encouraged friends and family to vote online.
Their coaches, Angela Wirth, Ashley Butcher, Sharina Ramsay-Adams, Connor Elliott, George Yaeger, Kylie Ross, Steve Novacek and Nolan King, have offered their amazing talent, at no cost, to instruct and fine-tune our stars for their big night.
The star raising the most money through ticket sales and voting will be crowned the Mirror Ball Trophy Winner. While other awards that night will include Best Male Dancer, Best Female Dancer, Best Costume and Best Video, it has been clear these incredible people are dancing for more than a trophy.
In addition, a slew of volunteers have worked behind the scenes to ensure an entertaining evening. Professionals like Ali Whitman, Leslie Carlson, Wink Winkler, Jeff Heintzleman and Lisa Saunders are lending their expertise to make this a show to remember. Committee members Lisa Peters, Brenda Ray, Kim Hopkins, Connie Knief, Nancy Ray, Toosje Lamoreaux, Lynne Bridges and Dee McPeek have been burning the midnight oil to make sure there is food, wine and a lovely room to dance in. There are over 75 generous volunteers who will perform a multitude of tasks including greeting guests, serving food and wine, helping with lighting and props and collecting and tallying votes.
To say this event has taken on a life of its own is a gross understatement. The reality is, the money raised from this FUNdraiser will be used to help support families whose income does not allow them to pay full tuition for their children to attend Seeds. Many of these children are considered at-risk and benefit greatly for the rest of their lives from early education. The staff, families and, most of all, the children at Seeds of Learning are extremely grateful to the many men and women of Pagosa and our surrounding communities for their amazing support.
In the creative community, the term “break a leg” is used as encouragement and best wishes for success. To our amazing stars and their talented coaches, we pass along that sentiment but, even more, we pass along hugs, kisses and a heartfelt thank you.
