VALDOSTA – The 23rd Annual Father Daughter Valentine Dance is here.

Sponsored by First Presbyterian Church, the dance is scheduled in four sessions, 6-8 p.m. and 9-11 p.m., Friday and Saturday, Feb. 8, 9, James H. Rainwater Conference Center, off Norman Drive, according to organizers.

Tickets are available online at www.fatherdaughterdance.org.

The dance regularly hosts approximately 5,000 participants, making it the largest father-daughter dance in the nation, Jeff Stewart, who founded the dance with his family, has said in past interviews.

Dance participants include some fathers and daughters who have attended each one.

Some fathers and daughters have attended once, and have told Stewart they view it as a one-time Disney World-type event.

Each year, fathers and daughters arrive for the first time.

While the event is ready to accommodate as many daughters, fathers and father figures as possible, Stewart regularly reminds the public the dance is not an event for mothers or the entire family.

Stewart started the dance in 1997 with wife Becky and the congregation of First Presbyterian Church.

“Since 1997, fathers have been teaching their daughters how a man is to treat her by taking her on this special date to the Father Daughter Dance each year,” according to organizers. “There is no doubt the impact a father has on the woman his little girl grows up to be. We merely provide the stage for relationships to be built within this special bond.”