Local stars will dance the night away to raise money for The Thread on Saturday at Del’Avant.

Tickets for the Dancing For The Thread event are sold out, but online voting is open to support your favorite of the six teams. The teams for this inaugural event are: Miriam Oropeza and Kevin Dunn, Patrick Bowie and Beth Knight, Cody Foote and Zsa Zsa Heard, Mike Pauley and Debbie Bardona, Lisa and Terry Alford and Hiram Oropeza and Shelby Warren. 

All of the funds raised by the event will go to the general operating fund of The Friends of The Thread.

“The Friends of The Thread Trail is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization whose mission is to advocate for the construction, maintenance, safety, expansion, and use of the Thread through oversight, fundraising, maintenance and community involvement,” said Susan Bowie, a board member for The Friends of The Thread. “That is a mouthful, but really The Friends of The Thread does it all. We have a board of directors that meet monthly to discuss how we can push the trail forward and get it moving.”

The Thread is funded largely by the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, and the Friends of The Thread work to ensure that construction continues on the project.

“We never want to have any lapse in trail building,” Bowie said. “The community came out strongly 2 years ago in favor of this project, and SPLOST passed by the highest margin in history. We want to honor the desire of the community and see this project through.”

The group has already made great progress toward its goal of completing the first 15 miles of The Thread by 2021. The plan for the trail shows a total of 29 miles.

“The Friends of The Thread has made significant progress over the last year and a half of construction. We have completed segment 1 (Granger Park) and 2 (Mike Daniel Recreation Center to Twin Cedars), comprising over 3 miles of trail,” Bowie said. “We are currently working on segment 3 (Broad Street to LaGrange College) which should be complete in September.”

The next part of the trail will follow soon after.

“Segment 4 (Lagrange College to Hollis Hand Elementary) will soon follow with an additional 1.5 miles of trail,” Bowie said. 

While the competition is sold out, organizers still encourage anyone who can’t attend to vote for their favorite team.

“The dancers were chosen based on their involvement in the community and their support of The Thread,” Bowie said. “The votes will be tabulated by 50 percent judges score and 50 percent votes. One vote equals $1. Even if you are unable to attend the event you can go to our website, Thethreadtrail.org, to vote for your favorite dance pair.”