Bailey Mountain Cloggers To Perform in Chicago Thanksgiving Parade

November 22, 2021

(Back row, l-r) Enrique Rodriguez, Naomi Jack, Samuel Evens, Emily Travis, Keyshawn Sanders, Paul Penderman, Samuel Locklear, Courtney Baswell, Bailey Clayton
(Front row, l-r) Dallas Moffat, Rachel Sealy, Halea Baker, Tykasia Davis, Lauren Freeman, Olivia Heim, Riley Rickard, Christina Starck, Danielle Plimpton

Fresh off their 29th national championship performance, Mars Hill University’s Bailey Mountain Cloggers are heading to the Windy City to showcase their dance skills for an international audience. Fifteen members of the team will be part of the American Clogging All-Stars group which will perform in the 2021 Chicago Thanksgiving Parade next Thursday.

In addition to the Bailey Mountain contingent, the American Clogging All-Stars will include another 13 dancers from the All That! ACA Team, JM Studios, and PowerTaps dance teams. Members of the Bailey Mountain Cloggers participating are:

• Courtney Baswell of Columbia, South Carolina
• Bailey Clayton of Unionville, Virginia
• Travis Davis (alumnus) of Mars Hill, North Carolina
• Tykasia Davis of Union, South Carolina
• Lauren Freeman of Morristown, Tennessee
• Olivia Heim of Asheville, North Carolina
• Sammy Locklear of Laurinburg, North Carolina
• Dallas Moffat (assistant director) of Asheville, North Carolina
• Morgan Murphy (alumna) of Mars Hill, North Carolina
• Danielle Plimpton (managing director) of Mars Hill, North Carolina
• Riley Rickard of Woodstock, Georgia
• Enrique Rodriguez of Burlington, North Carolina
• Keyshawn Sanders of Union, South Carolina
• Rachel Sealy of Fairmont, North Carolina
• Christina Starck of Spartanburg, South Carolina

This is the 88th year of the Chicago Thanksgiving Parade, which makes its way down State Street. The parade begins Thursday, November 25, 2021, at 8 a.m., Central Standard Time (9 a.m, for the Mars Hill area). It will be livestreamed via Facebook Live and on the VPOD-TV Roku channel.

The Bailey Mountain Cloggers were organized in 1974 by students at what was then known as Mars Hill College, and were influenced by an older championship team, the Bailey Mountain Square Dance Team, which began performing in 1950. The Bailey Mountain name is derived from the mountain adjacent to the college campus. Being one of a few college-based performing clog teams in the nation, with art performance grants and college credit courses, the Bailey Mountain Cloggers serve as ambassadors of goodwill for the college and the dance traditions of the Southern Mountains. During their history, the Bailey Mountain Cloggers have performed throughout the United States and internationally in countries including Canada, Mexico, England, Scotland, Austria, and Ireland. The Bailey Mountain Cloggers dance company has established a national and international reputation for American clog dance excellence.