Emo Senator: Mike Parry won't dance with one who brung him at Healthy Seniors benefit

As we return to the latest episode of Emo Senator, Southern Minnesota's most watched telenovela, fans will be pleased to learn that our hero, Mike Parry, the Belle of Waseca County, won't be dancing with the one who brung him to tonight's Healthy Seniors of Steele County benefit.

Not that guests will know this before the show. Saturday's Owatonna People's Press reports in Healthy Seniors dance fundraisers showcases Steele County:

The Healthy Seniors of Steele County are hosting its second annual fundraiser “Dancing with the Steele County Stars” on Monday night and Executive Director Edna Ringhofer said it is going to be a full house.

Since the event will be held in the Medford High School auditorium instead of the Owatonna High School auditorium because of renovations, Healthy Seniors is only selling about 550 tickets. According to Ringhofer, there are less than 50 tickets left.

“Unfortunately, we won’t be able to accommodate as many people as we could last year,” she said. “It’s going to be a full house, that we already know, but they should really enjoy it.”

This year’s show will feature eight couples, who will be performing eight different dance styles. Some of the dances include the tango, waltz and the cha cha.

Ringhofer said the board looks for prominent individuals who live or work in the Steele County community to participate.

Nor will EmoSen fans learn about Mike Parry's involvement from the Healthy Seniors' website, although we do get the names and sponsors of the competitive dance couples:

2012 Celebrity Dancers

Craig Doring Truth Hardware & Nikki Gieseke Jostens

Dave Effertz  TPS Insurance & Marie Lawrence  Federated Insurance

Bob Howell Owatonna Country Club & Emma Howell OHS Student

Dave Legault KOWZ Radio & Karen Legault Thrivent

Victor Mrotz Hope Creamery & Kellie Mrotz Hope Creamery

Matt Mullenbach  Gold Cross Ambulance & Val Mullenbach  Ata Cafe

John Petterson United Health Group & Gretchen Chavez Steele County Human Services

Tim Van Gelder Mayo Health System Owatonna & Andrea Van Gelder – Trinity Lutheran Church

These civic-minded individuals will be dancing for the local non-profit, which recruits and trains adult volunteers to perform services that help senior stay in their homes. (Seriously, this is a great organization).

No, for news of our hero's part in the event, we must turn to a press release, where we learn about Mike Parry's not dancing:

State Sen. Mike Parry, candidate for Congress in Minnesota's 1st District, will emcee Dancing with our Steele County Stars fundraiser Monday evening at the Medford High School with his daughter Michelle. The event will benefit senior citizens living in communities throughout Steele County

"The good news is that I'll be emceeing the event with Michelle and not dancing," Parry said. "If I was dancing, we'd have to pay people to come and that defeats the purpose of a fundraiser."

This is grand news indeed, a story those of us living in the Seventh Congressional District can only envy, since Lee Byberg and Collin Peterson both continue to insist on singing in public.

Photo: A pair of dancers from last year's Dancing with the Steel County Stars. Bluestem encourages readers in the Steele County area to attend if there are tickets remaining.