STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Sam Solie took his daughter Wavey’s arm as they walked down a red carpet festooned with balloons, the light-up dress she got off the internet glowing as they walked.

Anurag and Aadhya Bansal followed, Aadhya wearing a beautiful dress purchased in India.

Juan Carlos beamed as he posed for a picture with Jandi and Luane Gonzales to remember the night.

And Dave Madaras struck a more masculine pose with his 3-year-old son Charlie after having taken the usual father-daughter poses with his two girls.

About a hundred fathers and daughters turned out this week for the Wood River YMCA’s fourth Father-Daughter Dance.

“It gives a safe space for dads and daughters to spend time together,” said Aspen Saren, interim Healthy Living director for the Y. “It’s free so there are no barriers to participation. We provide food, chocolate, dancing, pictures from Thomas Smiley Photography—the whole works.”

“It’s just to provide super sweet evening for fathers and daughters,” added the Y’s business manager Mary Williams. “It’s the sweetest thing to get kids from 2 feet tall to 5 feet enjoying a special day. It’s a time a girl gets to spend focused time with her dad. And a lot of fathers make it really special, taking their daughter out to dinner beforehand.”

The girls were offered purple corsages to wear around their wrist, along with masquerade-type spectacles, hearts to wear on their sleeves and glow sticks to wrap around their wrists or necks.

Each pair walked down a red carpet lined with balloons, then posed for a father-daughter picture against a backdrop of paper cutout hearts. They were then ushered into the gym where disco lights flickered on the floor, walls decorated with red and white hearts as  DJ Sam Parker spun such tunes as “My Girl” and “YMCA.”

Fruit punch spiked with rainbow sherbet ice cream provided liquid refreshment. The runaway hit, however, was a chocolate fountain where the girls meticulously doused giant strawberries, marshmallows and long pretzel sticks to share with their fathers.

“It’s something we look forward to every year,” said Mike Daniels who had his 9-year-old daughter Skyley on one arm and her 10-year-old friend Mari Cruz on the other. “We love the dancing and the chocolate strawberries, too.”

On the darkened dance floor, one father took his daughter through a jitterbug dance while another lifted his daughter in the air and spun around. Some girls twirled round and round, while another pumped her glow sticks in the air to the beat of the music.  One girl simply ran circles around her father until she was  exhausted.

“My daughter loved coming and seeing the places she knows--like the climbing wall,” said Sam Solie. “It’s a special night.”

Besides being just plain fun, the dance offered a chance to nurture father-daughter bonds. Studies have shown that girls who have a positive relationship with their fathers achieve more academically, make better relationship choices and have more confidence and self-esteem.

Strong bonds increase the likelihood that the girls develop a strong sense of self, self-esteem and healthy interpersonal relationships.

“This is one of my favorite events of the year,” said Cynthia Murphy, who helped conceive of and eventually build the Y more than a decade ago. “I come every year. It is so sweet.”