Winners Of Fundraising Event Share Experience

By Misty Cryer

The inaugural fundraising event for United Way of Eddy County, Dancing with the Eddy County Stars, was a hit. It ended with a tie between two of the stars—Frankie Davis and Caleb Cunningham—while exceeding fundraising expectations. Both said it was a fun event as they shared the details.

In addition to the two winners, Caleb said the other contestants included Tiffany Frintz, Johhny Chandler, Angeline Maxwell, Dr. Amanda Ryan, Sheriff Matt Hutchinson, and Allyson Joy.

When asked if they were natural dancers, Caleb said, “No, I have no claim to fame in the dance community at all. I’ve never had a dance lesson. I enjoy dancing, but purely recreational.”

Frankie laughed. “That’s the answer to that one,” he said.

“The whole deal is done by the Utah Ballroom Dance Company. They’re the ones that set the fundraising goals; it came through them, and then they put on the show. They came with the costumes, told us which dances we were doing,” said Frankie. “They travel the country doing this. It’s pretty much their business to do fundraisers all over the country,” he said.

“They had their task cut out for them, trying to bring all eight of us with diverse personalities and trying to then put our two left feet together to be able to get these routines down well enough that we can focus on smiling and having fun on the day of the show and not completely freaking out. They did an amazing job,” said Caleb.

Professional dancers worked with each contestant, who danced to different songs. Frankie said he danced to “Viva Las Vegas.” Caleb said “Surfing USA” by The Beach Boys was the song chosen for him.

“We met on Sunday evening, and then we had practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings, and dress rehearsal Friday,” said Frankie.

“The eight local people that were going to be participating who were considered the Eddy County Stars were asked to help with getting sponsorship for the event and promoting the event,” said Caleb.

“When we signed on to become dancers, part of the deal was that every dancer would have the goal of $10,000 to fundraise, which was a potential fundraiser of $80,000,” said Frankie. “They take the expenses out with the rest staying here in Eddy County,” he said.

Fundraising was one of the three criteria for the dancers’ scores in the competition, said Caleb. For every thousand, up to 10, the dancers got a point. “Out of the eight of us, whoever raised the most got an additional bonus of three points,” he said.

“I think I was right at $10,000, so I got the 10 points,” said Caleb. “Frankie went above and beyond and got the extra three points. I think he raised just a little over $23,000,” he said.

The other two criteria, as explained by Caleb, involved the audience voting for their favorite dancer after watching the show, and the average score from the three judges—Chad Ingram, Missi Currier, and Hayley Klein. United Way Board Member Catalina King served as co-emcee.

When asked if he would do it again, Frankie said, “Most likely not,” explaining that the reason is to allow other people to do it. He said, “There is already a list that have applied to be dancers next year.”

The event included a red-carpet entrance, including a limo for the Eddy County Stars, escorted by the professional dancers, said Caleb, adding that hors d’oeuvres and a bar were also part of the event.

“Kyle (Marksteiner) and his team at United Way of Eddy County did an outstanding job, especially for this being the first event, bringing such a unique, fun way to make awareness and raise money for this nonprofit. They thought of every detail,” said Caleb. “We were amazed at the production level. It felt like the real deal whenever we walked in. We’re a bunch of local people that two-step every now and then,” he said.

“They all stepped up and made a special evening out of it. It’s truly something unique for Carlsbad. We were able to exceed expectations for the fundraiser. I know that in years to come, it’s going to get bigger and better each time,” said Caleb.

Editor’s note: Marksteiner is the editor and co-owner of the Carlsbad Local.