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With March right around the corner, promenade practice and promposals are in full swing. After seven days of practicing, the junior class will be ready to perform the traditional two nights of the promenade dance, which anyone is welcome to come and see the junior class perform March 2 and 3.
This year’s theme is “Enchanted Forest” with “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol as the song, both of which were chosen by the the junior class.
Brad Bentley, science teacher, is in charge of decorations for the dance. The cost of decorations each year add up to an average of $3,500 to $4,000.
“We make way more than that from tickets sold and then the rest of the money the senior trip and graduation party expenses, along with the five-year reunion,” Bentley said.
Bentley works with the junior class decorating the gym everyday after school for around a week, starting right after school and possibly staying as late as 8 p.m., totaling about 15 hours for decorating.
Cami Hathaway is in charge of getting contracts to participate in the promenade distributed to and turned back in by students, which she then uses to organize partners for the promenade. It is a lot of work, but Hathaway enjoys the extravagant tradition of prom.
“When I first moved here and they had me doing two nights of prom I thought they were nuts until I saw it and saw how much the students enjoyed it,” Hathaway said. “Two nights gives everyone a chance to go.”
Sophie Dujin, a foreign exchange student from the Netherlands, and Emma Siegenthaler, a Swiss exchange student, first thought two nights of prom was weird, especially coming from other countries where there are few dances.
“Dances here are so fun. [In Switzerland] there is no word for date, everyone just hangs out, and the one dance we had last year nobody went to,” Siegenthaler said.
Dujin has really enjoyed dances here and is glad there are two nights of prom.
“If you screw up on one night you can have a redo,” Dujin said.
The promenade dance brings the whole community together; for newcomers it might be odd to be a parent that gets invited to prom, but the people that have lived here their whole lives love the tradition.
“I hear stories of when my grandma danced the promenade,” junior Marley Booher said.
This tradition requires many people putting a lot of hours into the preparation, but everyone feels that it’s worth it.
“Getting kids there and ready is a nightmare,” Hathaway said. “I have heart failure and panic, but watching the gorgeous young ladies walk in makes me remember why— it’s their night to shine so why not have two nights where they get to be the princess. And the guys walk in, in tuxedos and suits and dang they clean-up well!”
