Springfield prom makes nod to history — and future

The Springfield High School senior prom Grand March links the town’s past with its future.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20130524/NEWS02/705249936

Published May 24, 2013 in the Rutland Herald Springfield prom makes nod to history — and future By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield High School senior prom Grand March links the town’s past with its future. The high school equivalent of the red carpet or fashion show runway, the Grand March will be held at the Fellows footbridge over the Black River at the renovated Fellows Gear Shaper building at 100 River St. on Saturday. The senior class had also wanted to have the full prom — dancing and dining — at The Great Hall at 100 River St., but full renovations are not completed that would accommodate such a large gathering, said Siera Lavin, junior class president. Chelsey Harmer, the junior class vice president, said the senior class chose the downtown location because they “just wanted to show off the new building.” Lavin said she toured the renovated building last year, and went to an art show in The Great Hall last summer. “I got the idea then and there,” she said. At Springfield High School, tradition dictates the junior class puts on the senior class prom, so that seniors can sit back and enjoy the prom without worrying about the details about throwing a party of 200 of your closest friends, dressed to the nines, often for the first time in their lives. The junior class puts on the senior prom as a fundraiser, to make money for their senior class trip in 2014, said Lavin’s father, Jeff Lavin, a longtime social studies teacher at Springfield High School, and one of two class advisers to the junior class. Jeff Lavin, ever the teacher, said the event “links Springfield’s past with its future.” This year, the senior class voted to hold the event in Springfield, and then head to Ludlow at Okemo Mountain’s Jackson Gore’s Roundhouse, Lavin said. Lavin, along with fellow class officers Harmer, Jenn Kollman and Amanda Battiest, have arranged everything — including closing River Street, to allow for the Grand March, as well as safely accommodate the crowds of parents, friends and townspeople who usually attend. In recent years, the prom has been held at the Hartness House Inn, or the gym at Riverside Middle School. There was also resistance to holding the prom out of town, the students said. But the girls said they got “a good deal” from Okemo Mountain Resort, and booked the Roundhouse. According to Springfield Police Lt. Mark Fountain, River Street will be closed from Main Street to the Springfield Shopping Plaza, sometime after 4 p.m. He estimated that the actual closure will take place “more toward 5 p.m.” The police are concerned about the students and spectators’ safety, as they take pictures of the students in their prom finery. The march is expected to start around 5 p.m. Harmer said a big crowd of parents and friends, as well as the curious, usually attend the Grand March. Students attending the prom use their creativity in arriving for the Grand March, with Lavin noting that one couple arrived by helicopter, which landed on the high school’s soccer field. Students have even been known to arrive in an RV, they said. The juniors, who all plan on attending the prom, said they have a “rain plan” given that the forecast for this weekend is for gloomy weather. Friday night they head to Jackson Gore to start decorating the Roundhouse in the prom’s colors of green and gold, with the theme Enchanted Forest. “Gold is in this year,” said Harmer. If it’s pouring, the Grand March will have to move indoors to the Great Hall, an art gallery and exhibition space.