There was a sunken ship, an octopus, even a mermaid at McMinnville Civic Center on Saturday night for the annual Father-Daughter Date Night.
The theme was Under the Sea with attendees splashing atop the ocean waves for a high-energy night of dancing and memories.
“We started coming to this when she was 4 and we’ve been every year since,” said Johnny Anderson who has made it to the event 16 years straight with daughter Jarah, now a sophomore at MTSU. “It’s given us some special memories together.”
David Marttala first started attending 20 years ago with his oldest daughter. Now he goes with both his daughters, Shelby and Lilly.
“The first few years we went, I expected to stay for about an hour and go home,” said David. “That hasn’t been the case at all. We stay till the end and spend most of the time dancing.”
Charles Slaughter and his daughter, Hollie Dodd, have also been regulars at Father-Daughter Date Night, which is now in its 21st year. First National Bank has sponsored the event for the past four years.
“It’s neat because you see a lot of the same people,” said Charles, “but each year the kids get a little taller and grow up a little more.”
In keeping with the Under the Sea theme, there was a sunken ship on one end of the Civic Center. Attendees could get their picture made in front of an underwater backdrop complete with fish, coral and bubbles.
There wasn’t a professional photographer on hand. In this digital age, First National Bank had an employee available to take portraits of attendees using their own cellphones.
“Tickets sold out in about two weeks,” said First National president Pieter van Vuuren. “It’s always been a very popular event. We had calls as late as Friday from people asking for tickets, but it’s been sold out for a while.”
The number of tickets is capped at 352, van Vuuren explained, because that’s the number of seats comfortably available inside the Civic Center. Attendees usually don’t sit for long. After finishing their meals, most are quick to shake a leg on the dance floor.
A popular attraction was a mermaid played by Pieter’s wife, Jennifer. She was swarmed by little girls who wanted to pose for pictures and touch her costume as she made her way around the Civic Center.
On the dance floor, Jason Gross of The Sound Machine kept them hopping with a collection of lively songs, the “Cha-Cha Slide,” and the train song “C’mon N’ Ride It.”
“I’ve been doing this since the very beginning for 21 years,” said Gross. “It’s my longest running event and it’s also my favorite.”
Gross talked about how Father-Daughter Date Night got its start at Bobby Ray Elementary. It was there for the first three years before moving to the Civic Center.