With temperatures in the 60’s it’s hard to imagine July with its sweltering heat. But maybe that thought of summer baking was the impetus for the Paws in the City organizers to up and move its annual Top Hat & Tails to April.
Event Chair Tina Fairbanks admitted that in making the move, there was a slight oops! They discovered a Saturday in April that appeared totally open with almost no competing events. Imagine that! April, one of the busiest months in the year, and a Saturday with nothing booked. Immediately they locked down the Frontiers of Flight Museum and Wendy Krispin catering.
Too good to be true? Yup. It was the night before Easter. Seems they’d used a calendar that didn’t have Easter or Passover posted.
But the celebrity dancers weren’t deterred. Well, except for WFAA’s Jason Wheeler, who had been announced as a dancer; but, the night of the Dallas version of Dancing With The Stars, he had been replaced by Albertson’s Carol Roberts. Alas, that meant that commercial Realtor JP Piccinini was the only celeb fella dancer. But he wasn’t complaining. As guests arrived, they were greeted by volunteers with adorably available pooches.
Inside, Wendy was preparing a feast for 450. Feeding this herd demanded diplomatic planning. After all, among the crowd there were meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans. To solve the problem, Wendy had large bowls of vegetables, salads and chicken served up Italian style.
Before the dance competition took place, attorney/animal advocate Skip Trimble was presented with the St. Francis of Assisi Award. Earlier in the evening, Skip addressed the “animal problem,” saying, “I like to say, it’s never going to happen in my lifetime, but, hopefully, I’ll be able to ‘look down’ and see it happen.” But to make it happen there has to be a change of attitude by the public and more legislation, Skip added. He was especially pleased to see that one of the candidates for state office had publicly taken a stand against puppy mills.
And while spay and neuter programs are an important part of the solution, it is necessary to go into the communities, visit with the people there, educate them and make them realize their lives will be better, too: “If we can get them to spay and neuter, the animals won’t be on the streets. You can’t kill your way out of this. They multiply seven times [our rate of multiplying].
But he admitted that the problem is not limited to Dallas. It’s worldwide. Pausing, he said that the answer is not just a no-kill shelter. “It has to be a no-kill community!” On a positive note, Skip reflected over his years of involvement that Dallas has come a long way in bringing the groups together thanks to the creation of the Metroplex Animal Coalition.
Thanks to efforts of the collaboration and the new management at the Dallas Animal Services, there has been a 40% decrease in euthanasia between 2010 and 2013.
Before taking his place on stage with fellow judges Claudia Marshall and Drew Pearson, judge George Riba admitted that he wasn’t above being bribed — “I’m accepting $20 bills.” It was just five years ago that the WFAA sportcaster had been one of the celebrity dancers himself.
But before the first celeb’s shoe touched the stage, Host Preston Pearson seemed anxious. He was going to dance himself. Not in the competition but rather with granddaughter Zoe Pearson, who’s in the fifth grade from Marietta, Georgia.
Now it was time for the competition to get underway. For your consideration, video of the dancers is provided below for the following teams:
- Jolene DeVito and Justin Brown dancing the hustle (Sorry no sound on Jolene’s due to copyright of music, so just hum some Michael Jackson)
- Teresa Frosini and Nicholas Stevens dancing the jitterbug
- JP Piccinini and Lindsey Jordan dancing a medley
- Carol Roberts and Paul Rodriguez dancing the rumba
- Amy Vanderoef and Ryan West dancing the tango/cha-cha
- Brooke Williamson and Ian Kelley dancing the swing
Amy revealed that just minutes before going on, she had to be sewn into her cat suit that fit like sausage wrap. Her partner Ryan in gentleman fashion reminded the audience that Olivia Newton-John also had to be stitched into her Grease costume.
As PITC’s Martha Powell announced that Heidi Button had been named Volunteer of the Year, the audience provided the popular vote for the winning team. After the judges’ and audience’s votes were counted, the winner of the Lucy Trophy was revealed: Brooke and Ian!
But the evening’s competitive spirit was over. When guests had arrived, they had been told to text when they wanted the valets to pull their vehicles up. It worked and it didn’t. George Riba’s Prius appeared quickly. Unfortunately, George’s better half, Maggie, was delayed talking to friends inside. The results? One of the lanes was blocked by the waiting Prius.
On the other hand, Monica Greene waited for her car … and waited and waited. After inquiring a couple or three times on the status of the wheels, she shook her head and admitted, “I’m old-fashioned. I like to give them a ticket and get a car.”