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Jordan Phelps, left, enjoys a quiet moment backstage with fellow contestant Alyssa Lucius before performing a dance to the song, "It's Raining Men," during opening night of the 59th Apple Blossom Cotillion at Riverside Middle School in Springfield, Vt., on May 1, 2015. The contestants along with their escorts performed numerous dance numbers during the annual show. (Valley News - Sarah Shaw) Copyright © Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Jordan Phelps, left, enjoys a quiet moment backstage with fellow contestant Alyssa Lucius before performing a dance to the song, "It's Raining Men," during opening night of the 59th Apple Blossom Cotillion at Riverside Middle School in Springfield, Vt., on May 1, 2015. The contestants along with their escorts performed numerous dance numbers during the annual show. (Valley News - Sarah Shaw)Copyright © Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
The Apple Blossom Cotillion contestants huddle together for a cheer before opening night of the 59th Apple Blossom Cotillion at Riverside Middle School in Springfield, Vt., on May 1, 2015. The theme of this year's cotillion is "Totally 80s," and the high school seniors performed dance routines to popular songs from the 1980s. (Valley News - Sarah Shaw)Copyright © Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
Jordan Phelps dances with her escort and boyfriend Edward Shambo III during the "Stand By Me" dance number during opening night of the 59th Apple Blossom Cotillion at Riverside Middle School in Springfield, Vt., on May 1, 2015. (Valley News - Sarah Shaw)Copyright © Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
Jordan Phelps, center, was selected by the judges to the 59th Apple Blossom Cotillion court at Riverside Middle School in Springfield, Vt., on May 2, 2015. The contestants were judged based on a daytime interview with the judges as well as their poise, appearance and presentation on the night of the cotillion. Four girls, including Jordan, were selected to the court, and Alexis Roldan was crowned queen. (Valley News - Sarah Shaw)Copyright © Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
Jason Phelps, right, Jordan's father, takes a photo of Jordan, left, with fellow contestants Bryne-Marie Sidney and Nicole Patterson after the 59th Apple Blossom Cotillion at Riverside Middle School in Springfield, Vt., on May 2, 2015. Phelps escorted his then girlfriend and now wife, Renee, to the Apple Blossom Cotillion in 1988 when Renee was a senior at Springfield High School. (Valley News - Sarah Shaw)Copyright © Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
Jordan Phelps, left, chats with her mother, Renee, after her interview with the judges at the Inn at Weathersfield in Weathersfield, Vt., on May 2, 2015. Renee participated in the Apple Blossom Cotillion when she was a senior in high school in 1988. (Valley News - Sarah Shaw)Copyright © Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
Photographs by Sarah Shaw Story by Aimee Caruso Sunday, May 10, 2015 (Published in print: Sunday, May 10, 2015) Springfield, Vt. — Showtime was 7:30 p.m., but by 6:45, a standing-room only crowd filled the Riverside Middle School gym, awaiting the start of the Apple Blossom Cotillion. Audience members, many clasping bouquets for the contestants, sat hip to hip in the bleachers, but no one seemed to mind the squeeze. Part contest, part show, part formal dance, the fundraiser for Springfield Hospital is billed as the town’s biggest annual event. And for many, it’s a family tradition. Springfield High School senior Jordan Phelps, one of 20 contestants, was following in her parents’ footsteps last weekend. Then sweethearts at Springfield High School, Jason and Renee Phelps took part in the 1988 cotillion. Watching their daughter perform was “a very proud moment,” Renee Phelps said. “It definitely brought back a lot of memories for me, good memories. It’s something that you’ll always remember.” Elementary school students also perform in the evening of song and choreographed dance, and both Jordan and her sister, currently a fifth-grader, participated when they were younger. The senior girls and their escorts are each paired with an elementary school student — in Jordan’s case, her cousin Emma Dana. “That was special as well,” Renee Phelps said. Like many of her classmates, Jordan been anticipating the cotillion for years. “I always looked up to the big girls and wanted to be like them,” said Phelps, who was escorted by her boyfriend, Edward Shambo III. “It’s just a great community event because you’re raising money for the hospital, and I love singing and dancing and spending time with friends.” This year’s event, themed “Totally 80s,” opened with a mashup that veered all over the decade, from Madonna to MC Hammer to Bruce Springsteen and beyond. The evening’s playlist prompted plenty of foot-tapping by the audience, who often sang along. The contestants included 17 Springfield High School seniors, two from Stevens, and one from Green Mountain Union in Chester, Vt. A Friday night performance serves as a sort of dress rehearsal for Saturday, when judges evaluate contestants’ poise, appearance, presentation and performance. Their scores, combined with those from an earlier interview, determine the Cotillion Court, which comprises a queen and four other girls. Phelps was among those chosen. “It was nice,” she said. “I was kind of hoping I was in the top five.” But for the chosen fruit, the event’s name rings more Southern than New England, yet its roots are all Vermont, reaching back to 1957. Initially, the high school girls “were presented on the arm of a prominent businessman,” Larry Kraft, longtime master of ceremonies, told the crowd on Saturday. That tradition continued for several years until the girls began choosing their own escorts. The cotillion nets between $15,000 and $20,000 a year, Kraft, the hospital’s development director, said in an interview. Now in its 59th year, it’s raised about $885,000 for the hospital, with about a quarter of that going to scholarships for local students. Depending on the amount of money they donate, cotillion supporters are placed in categories playfully named for Greek goddesses; donors who give $500 are in the top tier, Aphrodite. And participants and their families make hefty investments of their own. Boys rent their tuxes, and the girls, who wore white shoes and long fuchsia colored gowns, spent between $200 and $300 for their outfits and alterations, said Phelps, who covered the costs with some help from her parents. Since prom is also this month, “it’s very expensive.” Time is the other factor. Practice starts in January and continues on Sundays until just before the cotillion, when every night is filled with rehearsals. Phelps, who works in an after-school program, took that week off from her job. “I didn’t want to stress myself out too much,” she said. Part of a larger health network, the hospital employs about 400 people, making it, along with the school district, one of the town’s largest employers. A few years ago, the hospital merged several physicians’ practices to create a single practice, Springfield Health Center, in a renovated mill building on River Street. While preparation for the cotillion takes months, “it’s definitely worth it,” Renee Phelps said. It was nice to see the money being raised for new hospital equipment, and especially for the new health center, Phelps said. It’s a way for people “to come together as a community” and offers an opportunity for students to give back to the community. The cotillion also provides a chance to “rekindle some relationships with our classmates before we go our separate ways next month,” said Jordan Phelps, who plans to study elementary education in college. And, from the looks of it, it’s just plain fun. Saturday night, as Phelps sang and danced her way through the various numbers, gracefully managing the formal introduction, her smile shone true. “I didn’t have to fake it,” she said. “I was really having a good time.”
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