Hallmark Stars Rally Around Their Own In Nashville And Raise Over $300,000 For Alzheimer’s Research

Many familiar faces danced the night away at the Wildhorse Saloon for the 6th annual Dance Party to End ALZ.

Nikki Deloach and Ashley Williams first met in an acting class in the early 2000s and have remained close friends throughout the years. They are both frequent faces in some of our favorite feel-good flicks from Hallmark Channel, but the pair also share a bond over something they would likely rather not have in common. Both women have lost a parent to Alzheimer’s and dementia. However, this shared grief only deepened their friendship and now the pair have united to use their public platforms to make a difference.

When Williams and DeLoach recently spoke to Southern Living, Williams talked about how at first, she kept her mother’s diagnosis a secret, per her mom’s request. But when she did start opening up, DeLoach was one of the first friends she turned to for comfort. “Nikki and I connected because both of our families were dealing with dementia as a disease. And she has always been there for me and I’ve always been there for her.”

Around the time that Williams’ mother died and DeLoach’s father was diagnosed with dementia, Williams’ sister, Kimberly Williams-Paisley founded The Dance Party to End ALZ to raise money for Alzheimer’s research. Williams called this event  “a celebration of life.  Not only is dancing really good for your brain and your body, but it’s also a way to find community together in what also can be a really isolating disease.” This year, Williams and DeLoach served as co-chairs for the party and set a theme of “the 2000s,” perhaps a nod to when they first met. They called on their friends and the public alike to join them in dancing the night away at the Wildhorse Saloon in downtown Nashville and in raising money for research grants for the Alzheimer’s Association. “I think the dance party is so reflective of, we can be sad and we can be grieving and we can be mad and we can have all of those feelings and we can also dance. And we can also find joy. And we can also celebrate. That is the human experience. And I think so many of us when we go through really hard things, it is so hard, not only to imagine that life will be joyful again but to allow ourselves permission to celebrate and to find joy,” DeLoach said.

Their efforts were richly rewarded because this year’s Dance Party to End ALZ raised over $300,000 for the Alzheimer's Association research grant program and that is a grand total of $2.1 million dollars since in the event’s six year lifespan.

Joining DeLoach and Williams this year on the planning committee is friend and frequent co-star, Andrew Walker. He spoke to us about his personal connection to this cause.

“My mom passed this summer from Alzheimer’s. She had to battle over 10 years, it’s an awful disease. For so many people that get it, they are full of life people. My mom was the life of the party. She brought people together. We need to find a way to cure this disease and it’s grassroots people coming together like this that are getting us one step closer to figuring out this problem. So it means everything to me. And to be surrounded by so many people that have also been touched by it means the world.”

This was a sentiment echoed by many of the other celebrities in attendance. Kristoffer Polaha, who was there with eldest son and budding musician Caleb Polaha said, “ My wife’s mother is living with the disease. [She was diagnosed] about 5 years ago. She’s still alive but she’s not who she used to be. And so Alzheimer’s hit home in a real way for us…They call it the long goodbye. It’s affected every single person in our family so finding a cure, if there is a way to find a fix for that you would be saving families.”

For Paul Greene, he too shares the connection of grief and loss with DeLoach and Williams and that’s what spurred him not to just attend but to offer to join in and participate in the evening’s entertainment. “My dad passed from ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease about 10 years ago. And I spent a decade raising money for ALS. And then we were all at an event and I found out this is happening and I said do you want me to come sing a song? I just know what it’s like to lose a parent. And I think if there is anything that I can do to help other kids not have to experience what I went through. It doesn’t matter if it’s dementia, or Alzheimer’s, or ALS, or cancer, to raise awareness to that thing, it gets a little more attention and more money to hopefully make a difference.”

Brooke D’Orsay told us that helping find a cure is personal for her as well. “I’m here to support Ashley and Nikki. I went to their walk last year in L.A. and I saw how important this cause is to them. My boyfriend lost his dad a couple of years ago to Alzheimer’s…it’s just something that we’ve got to get on top of and solve and put more and more funding in because without our brain we don’t have anything. It affects every part of our body and it’s something that I would just love to see an end to in the next five years. The more money we raise the faster we get there.. And it’s just amazing that the whole Hallmark community comes together and it just gets bigger and bigger every year and it’s just the greatest network in the world and they support what we’re doing all the time.”

Benjamin Ayres echoed this sentiment by saying, “I feel like we’re the Care Bears. We get together, we hold our hands, we find a cause, we just focus our love towards it.”

This real-world Care Bear Stare was in full effect all night as those not participating in the entertainment portion of the evening were standing belly up to the stage cheering on their pals. Everyone went all in on the early 2000s theme, dressed in a wide variety of looks from the early aughts from Britney Spears to Avril Lavigne to Justin Timberlake. Low-rise jeans, flat ironed hair, and butterfly clips were all around.

“It has been the greatest gift to be able to participate in this Dance Party to End ALZ with Ashley Williams and Nikki DeLoach for a myriad of reasons. We have gotten to host some of our Hallmark family, some of whom I’ve known for up to 15 to 18 years in our home and my husband and I are getting to participate in a couple of surprises throughout the evening. And also just having so much fun for a great cause with these amazing humans that we love and this amazing community that we are a part of is a dream come true,” Erin Cahill said.

There were also several other stars in attendance both in and outside of the Hallmark family including Sarah Drew, Cindy Busby, Erich Hover, Clare Bowen, Danica McKellar, Jen Lilley, and Melissa Joan Hart. The Sabrina the Teenage Witch star,  who now lives in Nashville, spoke to us about how it was Kimberly-Williams Paisley who first made her feel welcome in her new Southern home. “When I  moved to town Kimberly became one of my new friends and was one of the people who agreed to come on my new podcast and so I read her book all about Alzheimer’s and what she went through with her mother. It just touched my heart so being able to be out here and support is I think really important.” She continued, “I’ve been hanging out with this group at the Christmascons so I’m one of the rare non-Hallmark people here. I was like, how did I get invited?,” she said with a laugh. “ These are the nicest people and are all like a family. They really stick together and being at the Christmascons a little bit as the outsider of this wonderful group of people, everyone is just so lovely and warm and supportive and inviting. And that’s what everybody’s doing here tonight, is to be here to support them.”

Fans and stars alike were treated to a night full of incredible entertainment. Several artists took to the stage to perform hits from the era including Jay Allen, Kylie Morgan, Melinda Doolittle, Paul Freeman, MaRynn Taylor, Noah Thompson, Alicia Witt, and Charles Esten closed the show with a rousing rendition of Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” and then leading a group performance of U2’s “Beautiful Day.”

When a cure is found, it will indeed be a beautiful day. Until then, we will keep dancing.

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