BROWNSTOWN — Dancing with the Seymour Stars shook the stage with stellar performances that ended in a total of $67,200 donated to the Boys and Girls Club of Seymour and Seymour Main Street on Saturday night at Pewter Hall in Brownstown.

Jackson County locals gathered to dance, laugh and raise money after 11 years of fundraising, having started this journey in 2013. In its 11 years, Dancing with the Stars has raised over one million dollars. Due to the effects of COVID-19, 2020 was the only year the dancing competition could not be held.

This year, Heather and Grant VonDielingen shined the brightest as the 2024 winners. Katrina Hardwick and Eric Stam were runner-ups and in third was Ashley and Brad Foster.

The other two pairs of competitors were Robin Irwin and Michael Scharfenberger and Karen Haas and Zane Clayburn.

Dancing with the Seymour Stars 2023 first-place title holders Tom Gray and Randall Rust reprised their winning performance of “Bad to the Bone” by George Thorogood & The Destroyers on the stage.

During the intermission, as votes were tallied, Raíces Folklore performed traditional Latin dances with dancers Nadia Herrera, Alexa Gomez, Stephanie Lopez, Yadira Brown and Frankie Galicia.

Mr. Jackson County himself, Dr. Dave Hartung, also returned to sing his parodies about Oktoberfest, one-way bridge constructions and other Jackson County staples.

The VonDielingen’s danced to “County Fair” by Chris LeDoux, which was more than some song they chose to compete with. “County Fair” was played at their wedding, due to the importance of the fair in the Seymour couple’s relationship.

The last day of the fair in 2015, they were engaged. The following year, they also were married on the last day of the fair.

In his questionnaire, when asked about a song he could hear on repeat, Grant said Chris LeDoux.

Heather has experience as a gymnast and cheerleader, but for the couple, they hadn’t performed like this before. With roughly a month of preparation, they put together their routine, opening the song with Grant hammering to the beat against a prop of a piece of fencing to go along with the lyrics.

“Been workin’ like a dog, slavin’ on the fence line, stretchin’ those wires tight,” Chris LeDoux sings in his song.

After their victory, Heather expressed how fun it was and her interest in learning even more about dancing. She picked up a helpful tip from the Raíces Folklore group, showing off the bottom of her shoe, which had a piece of duct tape on it. To prevent slipping on her cowboy boots, Heather took their advice.

“Super happy to do it and glad it’s over,” Grant said with a smile.

Performances ranged from a heavy focus on technique and skill to humor and skits, using medleys and goodie bags to spice up their routines. At the end of Haas and Clayburn’s dance, one stood and waved a sign to vote for them while another shot fake dollar bills with a money gun at the dancers.

The employee relations administrator and financial advisor’s theme for their dance was a “shamless plug for more money,” as Clayburn put it during a skit before the dance. They took off their jackets, revealing white shirts with a large dollar bill symbol on the front.

This dynamic duo performed “Money (That’s What I Want)” by Barrett Strong from 1959, which fit their funny messaging and careers as bankers.

They were asked by JCBank to dance and were glad to return to the stage, having previously participated as well.

“If the stars didn’t align, it wouldn’t have worked,” Clayburn said.

For four hours a week for the past four weeks, Haas and Clayburn had worked on their performance, a few obstacles in their way. Haas got sick and Clayburn had a vacation, which stunted some of their practice.

When it comes to what makes Dancing with the Seymour Stars special compared to other fundraisers, Clayburn said that it’s a great event to invite family, friends and coworkers to for a family-friendly evening of fun. He said that those he invited were pleasantly surprised by the entertainment, all going towards a good cause.