DOWAGIAC — An event that has become a tradition for many in Dowagiac will be returning to the city next month.

The Young Professionals of Greater Dowagiac will host its fifth annual Daddy-Daughter Snowball Dance from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2 at Dowagiac Middle School. Tickets are $5 in advance and $10 the day of dance. Tickets are currently on sale at the Baker’s Rhapsody, Miss Michele’s Dance Studio and Lifestyle Nutrition. Tickets can also be bought online on the Young Professionals of Greater Dowagiac Facebook on the dance’s event page. Funds raised from ticket sales will be used to help put on other events hosted by the young professionals and to fund a scholarship provided by the organization. The event will take place during Dowagiac’s annual Ice Time Festival.

Despite the name of the event, the Daddy-Daughter Snowball Dance is not limited to fathers and daughters. The dance is meant to be an event that brings together young girls in the greater Dowagiac area and the positive male role models in their lives, said Rebecca Steenbeke and Carrie Freeman, members of the dance’s organizing committee.

“It’s a really special bonding experience,” Freeman said. “People truly enjoy it. It’s just a really fun evening.”

The event will feature a visit from Princess Jasmine, from the Disney movie “Aladdin,” music, dancing, refreshments, a photo booth, games and more. The Miss Dowagiac Court of Honor will also be in attendance at the event.

The Feb. 2 event will mark the fifth year that the Young Professionals of Greater Dowagiac have hosted the Snowball Dance. Initially, the dance served as a way for the young professionals to fill a need in the community by providing a low cost, local event for families to enjoy, Steenbeke said.

“A lot of towns offer a daddy-daughter dance, but Dowagiac didn’t,” she said. “A lot of people from Dowagiac were going to Niles or further for a daddy-daughter dance. So, we thought it would be really cool if we could bring that to our town and get local families involved. … It’s been really successful.”

In the years since the first dance, Steenbeke and Freeman said the dance has become a tradition for many in the area, adding that they are proud to be a part of the organization that started it.

“It’s great that it’s a tradition that we wanted to start that actually stuck,” Freeman said.

“It’s definitely a tradition that has stayed in town, and people really look forward to it,” Steenbeke added. “I think it is really cool that we made an event that people have really latched on to and made it a part of their yearly routine.”

Steenbeke and Freeman said they want to invite the community to participate in the tradition of the daddy-daughter dance and make new memories with the Young Professionals of Greater Dowagiac.

“It’s just so special,” Freeman said of the event. “It’s just so great to see the looks on the girls’ faces [who attend]. It’s just the cutest thing.”