Team Kelly May and HRCDCC are big winners with the 10th year of "Dancing With The Stars of the 'Burg" 

 

Team Kelly May received perfect “10’s” for their dance scores, but the Harrisonburg Rockingham Child Day Care Center was the biggest winner at Sunday's (Nov. 17) "Dancing With The Stars of the 'Burg" event held before a sellout crowd at JMU's Festival Ballroom. This year’s dancers set a new fundraising record as each team reached $10,000 and earned the Shining Star award.

 

Seven local celebrities competed in the event and combined to raise over $144,000 for HRCDCC, a non-profit, United Way supported day care center. The center provides fully accredited, curricular-based day care on a sliding-fee scale to children.

 

The purpose of the fundraiser is to support the Daycare’s building fund to meet the goal of being in their newly purchased  building by 2021.

 

Team Kelly May received the Children’s Champion Award, winning the first phase of the competition by receiving more pre-event votes (in the form of donations to HRCDCC). Team Driller of Brown and Sutt and his USA Dance partner Caroline Clymer won the Judges Choice with their hustle Carolina Shag. Team Aubrey received the most audience votes the night of the event and won the People’s Choice Award.

 

Team Kelly May was crowned Grand Champion and took home the Mirror Ball Trophy.

 

Other celebrity dancers included Aubrey Urbanowicz from WHSV TV-3, partnered by Adriel Byrd of USA Dance; Debbie Brown from Hands to Hearts Life Relationship Coaching partnered by Nick Gardner of USA Dance; Steve Brown from Brown & Sutt partnered by Caroline Clymer of USA Dance; Mandy Leeth from Burkholder & Associates, Ameriprise Financial partnered by Don Barstow of USA Dance; Kelly May Brown from Myers Ford, who performed with USA Dance's Greg Arehart; Oskar Scheikl from Rockingham County Public Schools partnered by Jackie Baker of USA Dance and Steve Smith from James Madison University, partnered by Ruth Barstow of USA Dance.

 

With choreography and instruction provided by Karen Thomas of the Dancing With Karen studio, the seven stars and their partners had three months to prepare for the event.

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*Photos courtesy of DBE Photography