Second annual Daddy Daughter dance coming to Friendship Fire Department

By CLIFF WILLIAMS News Editor

Once again the Friendship Volunteer Fire Department will roll out its firetrucks to create a dance floor for the second annual daddy daughter dance.

Not only does the event raise funds for the fire department it creates special memories for daughters and their fathers. Organizer Tiffany Baker said no mothers are allowed in the dance.

“It’s all about the daddies and daughters,” organizer Tiffany Baker said. “They really do have a good time. The daddies are not on their phone. They are not worried about mommies telling them what to do. Literally they dance with their daughters and spend time with them.”

Baker said the dance allows for a special connection between father and daughter.

“It is important for little girls,” Baker said. “There are so many reasons. It is special.

KNIGHT Continued from A1

If only everyone could see what I see and the joy I see in the eyes of these for just a couple of hours, those daddies do make it all about those girls. I still have girls from years ago tell me how they will never forget that night.”

This is the second year for the Friendship Volunteer Fire Department to host a daddy daughter dance and Baker has helped with both. Though she has many years of helping with these type dances, a moment from last year’s Friendship Volunteer Fire Department Daddy Daughter Dance will forever stand out.

“I was thanking a man for bringing his daughter,” Baker said. “The girl piped up, ‘He’s not my dad. He is filling in for my dad because my dad died last week. He is here for me.’ She told me how special it was. A year later I still get chills.”

Last year’s dance meant something to others not in attendance.

“Her mom messaged us afterwards thanking us,” Baker said. “She said it was temporary producers like Randy Jackson, Gary Brown and James D.C. Williams III, Jon John, Jamey Jaz, Keith Thomas, Tom Dowd and Tiger Roberts.

“The great ones endure and Gladys Knight has long been one of the greatest,” WCW said in a release. “In her first effort since 2013’s “Another Journey” — Knight’s eighth solo effort — this summer marked the release of “Where My Heart Belongs,” a new inspirational gospel album.” Knight is a two-time Grammy winner in the gospel category, and “Where My Heart Belongs” dropped on September 9th from Deseret Book, and recently won an NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Gospel Album.”

Georgia-born, Knight began performing gospel music at age four in the Mount Mariah Baptist Church and sang as a guest soloist with the Morris Brown College Choir. Three years later, she won the grand prize on television’s “Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour,” and the following year, her mother Elizabeth Knight created the group consisting of Gladys, her brother Bubba, her sister Brenda and her cousins William and Elenor Guest. They called themselves The Pips in honor of their cousin/manager, James Pip Woods. In 1959, Brenda and Elenor left the group, replaced by cousin Edward Patten and friend Langston George. The group was renamed Gladys Knight & The Pips, and following George’s departure in 1962, the classic line-up was in place.

The group debuted their first album in 1960, when Knight was just sixteen. With Knight singing lead and The Pips providing lush harmonies and graceful choreography, the group went on to achieve icon the first time she had smiled since her daddy died. It meant the world to me to hear that.”

Baker said everyone else at last year’s dance had a good time as well.

“There were nothing but awesome reviews,” Baker said. “Last year was probably the best I have ever done. The girls loved it.”

This year’s dance is going to be like a 1980s disco with lights and disco balls. It is from 6 to 9 p.m. Feb. 11.

Tickets are $35 for a daddy/ daughter couple with additional daughters costing $5.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.eventbrite. com/e/daddy-daughter-disco-dance-tickets-508029709537

“We will take formal photos, there is a dinner, dance and we will do a group Tiktok dance this year,” Baker said. “We will teach the daddies and the daughters together and then all of them do it together in a TikTok video.” status, having recorded some of the most memorable songs of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s including “Every Beat of My Heart,” “Letter Full of Tears,” “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” “If I Were Your Woman,” and the No. 1 smash “Midnight Train to Georgia.”

Her involvement in other creative undertakings, business ventures and humanitarian activities has been extensive, and has brought her honors from industry and community alike. In 1995, Knight earned her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the next year, Gladys Knight & The Pips were inducted into the Rock ‘N ’Roll Hall of Fame. Knight published an autobiography, “Between Each Line of Pain and Glory” (a line taken from her million selling recording “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me”), in 1997, and the next year, she and The Pips were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. In 2004, Knight received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the annual BET Awards ceremony.

Today, Knight and husband William, along with various other members of the family, oversee her busy career from the Las Vegas headquarters of Shakeji, Inc., her personal entertainment corporation. She is a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, performer, restaurateur, and businesswoman with a spiritual outlook on her life. Her faith in God has been the driving force behind all of Knight’s endeavors, guiding her through her many successes.

Knight will be on stage at WCW at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 4. Tickets are available for purchase at ticketmaster.com and the Essentials Gift Shop, located inside Wind Creek Wetumpka.

For more information, visit https:// windcreek.com/wetumpka/entertainment.

Chairman Tippy Hunter, General Manager Kaitlin Fleming, Managing Editor

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