Submitted Photo “Dancing for Special Stars” contestants stand around Mirror Ball Trophy winners Chuck Vennes and Brittany Armstrong, center, on Tuesday evening.

A local business owner overcame stage fright to come out on top of the eighth annual “Dancing for Special Stars” held at Minot State University’s Ann Nicole Nelson Hall on Tuesday.

In the end, The Mirror Ball Trophy was awarded to Chuck Vennes, owner of The Landing and Bottle Shop in Minot, and his partner and dance instructor Brittany Armstrong.

“Dancing for Special Stars” is an event in which notable residents and local “celebrities” put on their dancing shoes to help raise money for Special Olympics.

“Last year I was just in the audience. I was just visiting, and I just heard about it so I went to it. It was such an awesome show. One of the people in the show recognized me and volunteered me. I couldn’t back down. I don’t normally do something like that. I respected the show. I respected everything about it. Somebody volunteered me for it and said yes,” Vennes said. “I had a little bit of practice time, not much. I had a great partner I got hooked up with. Working with her, she was a studio dancer. She got me through it.”

Vennes and Armstrong brought in $61,000 in sponsorships and donations themselves and also went home with the 2023 People’s Choice Award. The runner-up duos in fundraising were Jarid Lundeen and Berkeley Lundeen, and Christopher Bachmeier and Tara Czemeres.

Though he confessed to typically being struck by stage fright, Vennes said he was able to rise to the occasion thanks to the supportive environment of the competition that he says provided the right perspective.

“I have my own stage, and I’ve said for years I don’t even like getting on it because I have stage fright. The people with the Special Olympics made it so easy and so comfortable,” Vennes said. “Dan, one of the guys told me, ‘Chuck, it’s three minutes out of your life. You can do it,’ and that stuck out in my mind the whole time. I wasn’t nervous. I wasn’t nothing. I think I beat that stage fright. It was just three minutes.I bumbled my way through it. I knew it. The audience didn’t know it. It was quite the experience. If you give a little, you get a little. I had a lot of people back me on that and stand behind me. It’s an awesome event. “

The event is a fundraiser for the North Dakota Special Olympics that pairs locals up with a dance instructor in a competition patterned after the famous “Dancing With the Stars” reality show. The duos each performed their routines and were voted on by audience members with their checkbooks, with every dollar donated counting as a point. Special Olympics of North Dakota Director of Special Events Cathy Muus said the event brought in more money than any year previously, exceeding $80,000.

“All our couples did a phenomenal job in fundraising for this event. This too was a record-breaking year. We couldn’t have done it without the help of our event sponsors, celebrities, dance instructors, event committee members, volunteers and our audience,” Muus said.