Dancing Grannies make Summerfest debut with special guests

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Dancing Grannies made their Summerfest debut with some special guests.

"Our main song is 'We Are Family,' because we are," Dancing Granny Doreen Lopez said.

Lopez and her fellow Grannies had a blast strutting through Henry Maier Festival Park on Friday.

"Everybody is smiling. Everybody is having a great time, and it shows off a good side of Milwaukee," Lopez said.

For their first ever performance at Summerfest, the women brought some southerners to town: The 610 Stompers.

"As you can see from our uniforms, our sweet spot is like mid-80s to mid-90s," 610 Stompers Treasurer Dan Sullivan said.

The grannies invited the all-male dance group from Louisiana to join them in the Summerfest parade on Friday and at several Fourth of July celebrations around Southeast Wisconsin.

"They're the most authentic, down to Earth, fun guys that you want to be with," Dancing Granny Jan Kwiatkowski said.

The two groups share a bond about more than just shimming to the music.

"We reached out to the Dancing Grannies shortly after the Waukesha tragedy and wanted to do something to help them," Sullivan said.

Last winter, the Stompers invited the Grannies to New Orleans to party, Cajun style.

"A couple of days into the Mardi Gras season, the Grannies came up to us and said, 'We're going to need you.'"

Now, it was the Dancing Grannies' turn to show the Stompers how their home state gets down.

“We feel like we’re able to give them back a little of what they gave us in New Orleans. On a maybe smaller level, but just as warm and fun," Lopez said.

The self-proclaimed "ordinary men with extraordinary moves" will be stomping around Wisconsin with the Dancing Grannies.

"We love them. They're great, and they are tough gals, and we have nothing but love and respect for them," Sullivan said.

If you would like to meet the 610 Stompers, the two groups are having a party at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday at Patti's Power Plant at 2800 S Kinnickinnic Ave.

Here is where you can watch the Dancing Grannies and the 610 Stompers perform in Wisconsin:

•West Allis Independence Day Parade at 10 a.m. on Saturday

•Franklin Independence Day Parade at 1 p.m. on Sunday

•Brewers vs. Cubs at 1:10 p.m. on Monday

•Menomonee Falls Independence Day Parade at 7 p.m. on Monday

•Waukesha Independence Day Parade at 11 a.m. on Tuesday

•Somers Independence Day Parade at 2 p.m. on Tuesday