Staff Writer
For those parents who have experienced seeing their children grow from toddlers into teens, to young adults and become parents in their own right, they know first-hand how quickly time passes – the song, “Sunrise, Sunset,” comes to mind. But for most of the young ladies and their Dads (or other special family member), Feb 12 was an event that will never fail to be a reminder of those early years.
The annual dance held near Valentine’s Day each year saw a steady stream of little girls of all ages, dressed in their finest proudly enter the gymnasium at the Caribou Recreation and Wellness Center with their, ‘dates’, who looked pretty sharp themselves.
“It was electric, the Dads were all very engaged in dancing with their daughters, the music was great, and the kids were all so excited,” stated Kathy Mazzuchelli, as she spoke of the recent Father, Daughter Sweetheart Dance. “It was just so much fun — this is the 28th year we’ve held this event.”
With the room filled with sparkling dresses, shining eyes and unimaginable energy, the crowd of 440 danced continuously to tunes provided by Music Express, that included everything from Michael Jackson’s, “Thriller” to Miley Cyrus ‘The Climb,” with even the popular “Chicken Dance” thrown in for good measure. Rather it was a little bit country or something with a lot of bass, Dads and daughters never missed a beat.
Of course what’s a night out with your favorite date without a bit of refreshments? The dancing duos managed to take a few quick breaks between tunes consuming two very large sheet cakes, several gallons of water and 16 gallons of punch – after all, dancing is quite a workout. “After all that and with the Chocolate Festival that was held the next day, I think we’ll probably be serving up apples and bananas here for a while,” joked Mazzuchelli.
Another very special feature of the annual Sweetheart Dance is the wonderful photos that are available to the couples and although not all have their photos taken in a more professional setting, this year Duane McCubrey (Photography by Duane) started his photo shoot at 6:15 and ended after completing 189 photographs.
Mazzuchelli said that although Moms like to come to the dance to watch, she doesn’t allow it. “This is really a special time for the Dad’s and their daughters. This year I saw a mom come in and I said, ‘I’m sorry but you can’t stay, if you want to take a photo go ahead but then you’ll have to leave.’” Mazuchelli said the woman said, “’But I’m here with my Dad too and sure enough she was – I just thought that was so great.”
“I just love this building,” said Mazzuchelli, “it’s so versatile. We had 440 here for the dance, it saw a steady stream of people all the next day going to the Chocolate Festival and then we’ll have the gym full again with kids playing basketball. The parking lot is full pretty much all day, every day with people participating in the variety of programs that we offer plus the walking track. It’s just like the ‘field of dreams’ — we built it and people are coming to use it all the time.”
