By Holly Fesperman Lee

Salisbury Post

Valentine’s Day came early for some lucky young ladies.

Salisbury Parks and Recreation enjoyed a record turnout Saturday night for its 11th annual Father-Daughter Dance. About 400 people attended.

Event organizer Jeff Holshouser said the limit was originally 300 tickets, but after those sold out, calls kept coming in and he decided to add 90 more.

“I wish we had a bigger building,” Holshouser said.

The event was held at the Salisbury Civic Center and included refreshments, music and door prizes.

Many area businesses helped sponsor the event; some donated refreshments and door prizes.

Young ladies between the ages of 4 and 13 were eligible to come with their fathers, grandfathers or other special family members.

“All the ages come,” Holshouser said. “Fathers won’t admit it, but they enjoy it. I talked to a few whose daughters aged out … they miss it.”

Mark McDaniel said he’s been coming for about five years but the dance is father-daughters for him. He’s got three daughters to escort.

His youngest daughter, Madison, 3, was at the dance for the first time this year.

McDaniel said he took Madison, along with her sisters Sarah, 11, and Rebecca, 8, out to eat at Ichiban Restaurant before the dance.

“It’s kind of a tradition with members of our church,” he said.

John Seybold heard about the event and decided to bring his granddaughter, Gabrielle.

“It’s a nice event for a little girl,” he said.

Gabrielle said she enjoyed getting all dressed up and got to pick her black and pink satin dress especially for the occasion, but added, “I’m not gonna dance.”

Seybold said his granddaughter is shy, but he suspected she’d venture onto the dance floor later in the evening.

Gabrielle was asked if she thought her grandfather could dance.

“No,” the girl answered.

Can you dance?

“No,” she said.

“Don’t you think you can outdo your grandpa?”

Gabrielle said she wasn’t going to try.

Madison Livengood gave her dad full credit for his dance skills.

The two were taking advantage of the dance opportunities.

“He did the twist better than me,” said Madison, 10.

“I’ve had more practice, haven’t I?” Gerry Livengood responded.

Livengood said he promised to bring his daughter last year but their plans fell through and he didn’t get to.

This year, he bought tickets early and the two made it to the event.

The Livengoods said they were planning to come back next year.

“This is a great program. We’re going to try to keep on improving it every year,” Holshouser said.

Contact Holly Lee at 704-797-7683 or hlee@salisburypost.