Drew strutted the moon walk, a flip of his hat, a spin, and the popular “stanky leg” dance with both legs to win the 2025 Kidz Bop Daddy Dance Off in front of thousands of onlookers.

“I really thought dad number three was going to get it,” said Drew. “I mean, you can’t beat the truffle shuffle.”

But Drew’s daddy dance moves won the loudest applause from the grandstand crowd, earning him the win.

“Winning wasn’t the goal,” said Drew, who is also evening custodian at Duncombe Elementary School. “I just wanted to make a great memory for my kids and my family.”

-Submitted photo
Jason Drew, second from left, poses alongside the other dads who competed in Sunday’s Daddy Dance Off as part of the Iowa State Fair’s Kidz Bop grandstand event.

Drew, and his wife, Allison, had never been to the Iowa State Fair and purchased tickets to the fair as well as to the Kidz Bop grandstand show for their kids.

“It was a last minute idea to take them to the concert,” said Drew. “We wanted the kids to have a great day and to make some family memories.”

Before the concert began, Drew said music was being played throughout the grandstand area and he decided to “hype the kids up” before the concert by doing a little dancing in the stands. Two songs into the Kidz Bop show, a backstage worker approached him and asked if he’d like to be part of the grandstand’s main event show.

“I’m thinking the kids would love it if I said yes,” said Drew. “Then they explained that it was for a Daddy Dance Off. I was like ‘oh no!’ but the kids told me to do it. Seeing how excited they were, I just wanted to make this memory for them. They were the inspiration for my dance moves.”

Drew was the third of four dads to show off their best moves on stage, and when it was his turn, the DJ played the song “Whoop There It Is!”

-Submitted photo
Jason Drew, of Fort Dodge, shows off his Kidz Bop Daddy Dance Off T-shirt and rainbow light-up unicorn that he won as the top dancer in the Iowa State Fair’s Daddy Dance Off competition.

With the loudest roar from the Iowa State Fair crowd, Drew took home first prize along with a light-up toy unicorn that he said his daughter loves, and a Daddy Dance-Off T-shirt.

“It was worth it,” said Drew. “It was a great memory to make with my kids and my family.”

Drew said the experience and memory is one that he will forever cherish.

“Our family endured a really big loss this year with the passing of my mother,” said Drew. “We needed something to be happy and joyful about. I have two kids who are on the spectrum and that can be hard to navigate, but this made me remember the simple joys in life. That’s what my mom would have wanted – to just embarrass myself and make people laugh and smile. It was a fun experience and it allowed me to remember to live with gratitude and to make memories.”