VALDOSTA — As daddies brought their little darlings, from babes in arms to adult daughters, to the Father-Daughter Valentine Dance Friday night, they seemed aware of the fleeting time they will have to spend with the ones who think they hung the moon.

“I bring her because she is not going to be young long,” Mike Daniels said of his daughter, Ellie Grace.

“I just had her yesterday, and now she’s 6,” he said, kissing her head.

Ellie Grace, decked out in her tiara, party dress and wrap, had enjoyed the dance at the James H. Rainwater Conference Center and was headed out with her dad to eat at the Bistro.

Don DeCarlo of Quitman brought his two daughters, KK, 17, and Jordan, 19, to the dance so he could spend time with them.

“Jordan is a student at Valdosta State and KK is a senior in high school, and this may be the last time I’ll have them together.”

Patriarch Eddie Richardson of Echols County not only brought his four granddaughters but his four daughters as well.

“He’s 73 and told his daughters we had to come with him to the dance,” said Lana Foster of Echols County. His other daughters are Cherlyn Sands-Anderson, Dr. Beverley Richardson-Blake and Debbie Norwood of Valdosta.

“Last year, he brought his granddaughters,” Foster said. “He’s making it a yearly event. He had been bringing the youngest one (8-year-old Brittanye Blake) for five years.”

The three oldest granddaughters came home from graduate school to attend the dance with their grandfather. Karla Foster, 21, is in grad school at the University of South Florida in Tampa while Jamie Foster, 22, and Kari Sands, 21, attend grad school at Valdosta State.

“We have four generations here,” said Debra Adams of Valdosta who invited her dad, Jim Karew of Waycross, to the dance. “It’s so fun.”

Adams’ husband, David, escorted their two daughters, Erin Adams and Karla Bennett. Karla’s husband, Eric, was there with their 1-year-old daughter, Taylor.

Allon Boatright of Valdosta was taking a break from the dance, enjoying some refreshments with his 3-year-old daughter, Maggie Elizabeth, in the lobby.

He had brought her to the dance for the “moments you will treasure for the rest of your life. You can’t take every day for granted. You don’t know what will happen.”

It was the second year he had brought his daughter to the popular dance sponsored by Valdosta’s First Presbyterian Church.

“Last year, we said we were dancing up a storm,” he said. “When anybody asks her where she’s going (this year), she says ‘the dancing-up-a-storm place.’”

And dance they did, whether having fun doing the chicken dance, slow-dancing with dad to “My Girl” or rocking out to “YMCA” and “Celebrate.”

And there was much to celebrate this 10th year as the dance, begun by Jeff and Becky Stewart, not only was featured in Southern Living magazine, but tickets also sold out in a record 1 1/2 days.

“I think we got the first tickets sold by Valdosta Greenhouses,” said Carl Slocumb of Dasher, who escorted daughters Emily, 6, and Taylor, 4. “Thank God, because I heard they sold quick.”

Taylor was only 4 months old when Slocumb began bringing the girls four years ago.

“It’s the one night out of the year that I can show them how much I love them,” he said.