Prom Time

Waiting for the Prom to begin.

 As the end of the school year approaches, one of the biggest events in this small village occurs.  It is time for the prom, when everyone gets their big opportunity to dress up and be a king or queen for one night.

There are no hotels out here, although the city is hoping to convert one of the buildings into a hotel but at the moment, the prom is held at the school in the cafeteria. 

The prom locally is very different from those held in most cities in that anyone in grade 6 or above is invited, including community members.

Photos taken here.

 Saturday night's theme was "A Night in Paris".  Few if any will ever leave the state but still they have dreams and they want their prom to allow them to escape, even if for just a night.

They set up their photo area in the entry to the school, against the wall nearest the gym.  The small pieces of paper are signs like wonderful, respect each other, etc.

The juniors are in charge of setting up the prom, so they started assembling it on Friday and finished on Saturday, just before the prom was due to start.

Eiffel Tower

 The Eiffel Tower was one of the more popular photography spots because it had lights so if you didn't have flash, you could still get a picture.  One of the young ladies brought a date who was under one year old.  She brought her baby brother as her date.  No he wasn't there all evening, just long enough to get his picture taken in "Paris" before she took him home.

The turn out community wise was not a good as normal.  Around the beginning of the dance, we were told a coworkers mother died from pneumonia.  She'd been fighting cancer, picked up a bug that went into pneumonia, and passed on from it.

That means later this week or possibly early next week there will be a funeral and school gets out early for it.  This did not stop the young ones from coming. 

Door to the Gym

 They even covered the door to the gym so students couldn't accidentally wander in there.  The door is between the photography area and the Eiffel Tower.

They had some benches scattered through this area where I spent much of the time available to snap photos of the kids with their camera's or tie boy's ties because they don't know how to do it.

The benches were located over near the bathrooms so I got to watch the girls and boys run back and forth between the cafeteria and the bathrooms.  Many of the girls wore heels so they clomped back and forth, often times sounding like a heard of elephants.  Often the shoes were bit too big while other times, the girls carried the shoes because they were too "high".
 It

Entrance to the Prom itself in the cafeteria.

 At the entrance to the cafeteria, there stood two lights.  The prom is held in the cafeteria so the juniors can heat up finger foods such a pizza, make punch (no alcohol its a dry village), or put out more jello or fry bread.  Off to the sides were tables covered in pink paper and placed in the alcove leading to the gym stood the DJ and his equipment.

Usually they get someone in the village to do it but this time the husband of the second grade teacher provided services.  He had some really nice music with no swear words and it was great to dance to.

 I snapped a shot of the prices.  As usual the cost of going in formal wear is much cheaper than going in casual.  I don't think the prices have changed at all in the whole time I've been here.

The only thing different is the time.  Usually it runs 7 PM to Midnight due to the police wanting everyone under the age of 18 home by midnight. 

They always notify the police of any events so they know the kids might be out a bit late.  Also the police tend to stop by and hand out for a bit to check things out.  As I said, its a whole community event.

Just anted to share a taste of a prom held in a village in Bush Alaska.  Hope you enjoyed the visit.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.