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Lilith 2020 raises over $10,000 for Kimberley, Cranbrook communities

$1,900 will go towards a new initiative to help support local businesses during COVID-19
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The Lady’s Leg Dancers are pictured at this year’s 20th anniversary Lilith event. Lilith 2020 raised over $10,000 for the Kimberley and Cranbrook communities. (Submitted file)

At the beginning of March, before large gatherings were banned by the province due to COVID-19, The Lady’s Leg Dancers held their annual show, Lilith, raising funds for the Kimberley and Cranbrook communities.

In an email to the Townsman, the Lady’s Leg Dancers explained that this year marked the 20th anniversary of their by women, for women show. The event took place on March 5, 6 and 7 at Centre 64 in Kimberley. Lilith 2020 raised $10,100 for the communities, the most their show has ever raised.

Over the five years that the Lady’s Leg Dancers have hosted the event, they’ve raised $37,400 in total.

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Lilith was started 20 years ago by the Steppin Out Dancers, who decided to host the showcase-style show during the weekend of International Women’s Day. The Lady’s Leg dancers took over the legacy a few years ago, and decided to keep the tradition alive.

“The event is all about supporting women and creating a positive and supportive environment for the performers and the market vendors, all of whom are women,” the Lady’s Leg Dancers said in their email. “We have an all female audience as well, which also makes it a fun way to celebrate International Women’s Day for the ticket holders. We, ourselves, are a group of 14 women organizing it, so it all just seems to fit together nicely with the theme and sentiment of Women’s Day.”

During their time, The Steppin Outs raised nearly $60,000 over the 15 years that they hosted Lilith. Combining the efforts of the two groups, Lilith has raised $97,100 for the Kimberley and Cranbrook communities.

This year’s funds will go to several different organizations. $1,500 will be distributed to the annual Lady’s Leg Dancers scholarship, which typically goes to a student graduating from Selkirk Secondary school. $3,350 will go to the Kimberley Helping Hands Food Bank, while the same amount, $3,350 will go to the Cranbrook Food Bank Society.

$1,900 will also go towards a new initiative in light of the current situation surrounding COVID-19.

The Lady’s Leg Dancers explained that Lilith would not be possible without the help of small businesses, and they want to give back during this challenging time.

“In light of our current global situation, we want to do something different with the proceeds from our event to spread the love to our local small business community,” The Lady’s Leg Dancers explained. “We know that small businesses are getting hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and we also know that they are truly the backbone of our vibrant communities. Many of them are adapting to the ever-changing situation and offering things like virtual shopping, home delivery, take out meals and more. So we’ve come up with a way to show them how much they mean to us and also brighten the days of our loyal fans.

“Over the next few weeks, we’ll be purchasing and giving away $1,900 in gift cards to those businesses who sponsored our Lilith 2020 show. We hope that this contest will also inspire others who are able to, to spread the love to the small business community to help everyone through this difficult time. Keep your eyes on our social accounts for your chance to enter to win.”

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In terms of this year’s event, the Lady’s Leg Dancers say it was one to remember.

“It was an exciting celebration where we changed things up a bit. Instead of having one host, our group of 14 split up the hosting responsibilities dressed up as famous women that have inspired us over the years,” the group wrote. “It was a fun way to make the show special and different than any other year. We also had the Steppin Outs open the show this year, to pay tribute to this amazing tradition that they started. The cast this year included a great variety of song, dance, comedy, spoken word [and] photography.”

The full cast included Lady’s Leg Dancers, Steppin Out Dancers, Joelle & Presley, Steph Warner, Michelle & Angie, Meghan Strachan, Nicole Bridgeo, Up the Creek Divas, Jen Roberts, It’s Getting Scot in Here, Sarah Stupar and 2 Shots of Whiskey.

The Lady’s Leg Dancers said that they would like to thank everyone involved in the production, from performers and volunteers to their loyal sponsors.

“We would like to give a special thank you to everyone who helped make our event successful, the performers, the volunteers and the local businesses that sponsored us this year,” they said, adding that this year they had more sponsors than ever before. “Last, and definitely not least, we want to thank the Steppin Out Dancers for starting this event 20 years ago. What an amazing legacy they created and passed on to us, and we feel so honoured to be able to bring this to the community year after year.”



corey.bullock@cranbrooktownsman.com

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The full cast of Lilith 2020, which took place at the beginning of March at Centre 64 in Kimberley. This year marked the 20th anniversary of the by-women for-women show, and raised over $10,000 for the Kimberley and Cranbrook communities. (Submitted file)


Corey Bullock

About the Author: Corey Bullock

Corey Bullock is a multimedia journalist and writer who grew up in Burlington, Ontario.
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