Woodland Park in Portage was expecting a capacity crowd for its annual Daddy-Daughter Dance this year. In the past they had limited the ticket sales to 300, this year they decided to accommodate a full capacity crowd which was 500!
Lori Wilkie, Event Coordinator for the City of Portage stated, "Even though we decided to allow for a larger crowd this year, there are still some people on the waiting list. There are no age restrictions stipulated and we have two years olds as well as grown adults attending with their fathers!"
The $40 reservation with $15 for each additional daughter coming with their dad allowed the girls to have a choice of corsage and then hop into line to have their photographs taken. The Portage Parks Department was providing each group a complimentary 5"x 7" family photograph. Fox Photography was there taking the pictures of the dads and their dates and the smiles were abundant!
A delicious buffet style dinner was also a part of the date. Riblets, chicken nuggets, buttered corn, and macaroni and cheese was served by the staff from Topperz. When the meal was finished guests could run over to the cupcake table. Yes... almost 400 cupcakes! Jennifer Gonzalez baked all the cupcakes for the evening from her home.
"It took me about three days to get all the cupcakes baked and decorated. Today I brought six flavors: chocolate cookie cough, strawberry, red velvet, peanut butter cup and Hawaiian. Peanut butter seemed to be the favorite tonight," Gonzalez said.
Soon after the DJ started up and the girls certainly weren't shy about hitting the dance floor. No problems with dancing to your favorite song tonight! All were having a great time singing along and dancing. Time was soon approaching for the massive balloon drop. All eyes were on the net hanging above and soon all the balloons were released. All the girls were scampering to gather up a balloon and the music started up again and the dance floor was full once again.
Heading out I spoke with Caylee Johnson who was checking out the cupcakes again. I asked her if her dad was a good dancer
She replied, "Well he's not really a good dancer, but I do like the cupcakes!"
It seemed as if everyone else thought they were good as well. The once full cupcake towers were pretty much emptied out! Everyone had a great time and they are already looking forward to making their reservations for next year!
Click here to see more photos from the event!