West Union's Fancy Free Cloggers win two world grand championships

West Union’s Fancy Free Cloggers turned a Cincinnati stage into another Adams County showcase, winning two overall grand championships at the 2026 World of Clogging Championships. The troupe topped both the Contemporary and Traditional categories at the Holiday Inn Eastgate on May 23-24, adding more first-place banners to a program that has spent decades building a reputation well beyond State Route 41.

The results were spread across the lineup. Beth Olds and her daughter, Myla Olds, placed first as a duo, while Harley Courtney and Alexis Marshall took first in their traditional duo. Colton Meade earned a Judges Award, and founder Evie Poe was also honored with a Judges Award, a strong signal that the troupe impressed both on precision and presentation.

Fancy Free’s success carried extra weight in West Union because the group has been part of the community since Poe founded it in 1995. A 2022 profile described the studio at 14593 State Route 41 as a place that offers lessons, and Poe has said the goal is about more than competition. “We just have a great time,” she said. That mix of discipline and community has helped turn a small-town dance studio into a steady presence on bigger stages.

The Cincinnati trip was not an isolated peak. In March, Fancy Free went to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, for the Encore Clogging Competition and brought home three first-place titles along with the Overall Young Adult precision banner. The repeated wins show a program that keeps producing results in both team and individual divisions, with family pairings and younger dancers carrying much of the load.

The group’s next stop is already on the calendar: the Hoosier Clogging Classic, listed for Aug. 2 in Bloomington, Indiana. For Adams County, Fancy Free’s run is a reminder that a local arts tradition built in West Union can still reach national championship floors and come home with the highest prizes.