Indian Hill Residents Put Their Hearts into the Daddy Daughter Dance 

By Mary Casey-Sturk

Twinkling lights, twirling daughters and twisting dads. It’s all part of the fun and charm of the Daddy Daughter Dance.  This lively event was created to fill a serious need recognized by two area women, Jen Bahl and Hillary Weidner, who both have daughters with medical conditions: the lack of AEDs (automated external defibrillators) in area parks and fields.

“In 2023, my daughter and a friend’s daughter, both 8 at the time, were diagnosed with a heart condition that required us to have defibrillators on hand at all times.” Shares Jen Bahl, “Their heart conditions were different, but both were at risk of sudden cardiac arrest. As we started looking around at the Indian Hill parks and recreational fields, we noticed there were no AEDs (automated external defibrillators).” Bahl continues, “At that point, we reached out to the Indian Hill Fire Department to ask what it would take to outfit all Indian Hill Parks with AEDs. It turns out the fire department had been trying to raise funds to do just this, but were having trouble engaging the community in the efforts. Hillary and I decided to put on a “Daddy Daughter Dance” to raise both the funds and the awareness of our cause.”

Hillary is Bahl’s friend Hillary Weidner. Weidner lives in Indian Hill with her husband, Jordan, and they have three daughters in the  Indian Hill Exempted Village School District (kindergarten, 2nd, and 4th grade at the end of the school year).  It was their daughter, Beatrice (4^th grade at the end of the school year), who has a heart condition that requires an AED on hand.

The Bahl’s daughter, Cameron, also in 4^th grade this past school year, has a heart condition and the family keeps an AED in their home. In addition to Cameron, Jen and Jeff Bahl have 3 other children, in 9^th, 7^th, and 2^nd grade this past school year in the Indian Hill Exempted Village School District.

The Heart of the Matter

With Cameron’s and Beatrice’s heart conditions on their minds, and knowing that others are at risk of sudden cardiac arrest, they moved forward with their plans.  Bahl shares, “As an avid event stylist and planner (as owner of Have a Bahl), I’d say my biggest strength is putting on meaningful events at a very low cost. In turn, we are successful at giving back significantly to the charitable cause.” Continuing, “Hillary Weidner is my partner in this event and she’s a social media influencer. Her strengths include many successful social media fundraising campaigns. In fact, I’ve never seen anything like it! She’s very good at raising funds through social media.”

“We set out to put together a dance for what we thought would be 50 dads and daughters, but as we launched ticket sales, we learned the demand was high! We changed venues from the Little Red Schoolhouse to The Little Miami Event Center and opened it up to anyone with daughters aged 5-10 (suggested ages). In 2023 we had about 75 daddy daughter duos” shares an elated Bahl. The event was simple, with desserts, a cash bar and dancing. Its “Heart Ball” theme was a hit and the number of people who expressed interest in coming back again was impressive. In 2024, they welcomed 200 dads and daughters with a Paris-themed dance and continued to raise funds for AEDs in our community. 

Success and Gratitude

Together with the Indian Hill Fire Department, the dances have provided funds to purchase and place AEDs at Livingston Lodge, Camp Dennison, Stephan Field and soon an AED will be donated to the Indian Hill Church nursery school to put an AED at their playground. 

“In 2025, we had an astounding 275 dads and daughters for a “Western” themed dance. By 2025 the Fire Department had more money than they needed for AEDs in our community, we had outfitted them all with our fundraising efforts!” Bahl continues, “So, we pivoted to raise funds for the California wildfires through the Baby2baby Organization. This was a relevant cause for the community as the fires were happening as the fundraising was occurring, and many people in our community were looking to help. We were able to send $13,000 to Baby2baby.”  

Grateful to the community. “Our ticket sales have ranged from $25-$35 per person and our donations have ranged from $5-$50, so if you do the math that’s A LOT of small donations to get to $13,000, which means the community has been extremely engaged and we have their attention.” 

Follow social media for information about the next event in 2026 and to see more photos on Instagram from past years @IHDaddyDaughterDance.