The promise of prom
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles marking the 50th Anniversary of Hartselle City Schools.
Hartselle High School’s 2025 prom was held in late April, but some thing about the everwarming days of May reminds me of the excitement of prom, and it makes me think about the many changes prom has undergone over the years.
The first prom I attended was in 1979, and I wore a Gunne Sax dress that my mother and I purchased from the Something Blue Shoppe for about $65. Gunne Sax dresses had a nostalgic feel with a Prairie/ Victorian/ Boho style that was very popular for several years in the late 70s and early 80s. By my senior year, I wore a borrowed Mike Benet formal which had a much stronger pageant look and even a few rhinestones.
In the years that I was a teacher and an administrator with Hartselle City Schools, I saw prom wear that was super formal, some that was far more casual, some that was tea length or cocktail length, some that came as a formal top with flow-ing pants all sorts of styles across many, many years.
And the guys in the late 70s were still wearing the ruffledfront tuxedo shirts that later became simple white shirts with black covered buttons. Cummerbunds some years with vests in others. Rented tuxedos and then rented tuxedos that looked more like suits. There were a few years when colors were in and a few years when the guys wanted to carry canes. Most would wear the shoes recommended by the rental shop, but a few wanted to wear converse or some other athletic shoe, and there were a few years when the guys would wear elaborately designed loafer-style shoes with their party threads.
Remember those Swingin’ Monkey Suit t-shirts from Burch and Hatfield? You can still find those on eBay.
The venue has changed over the course of 50 years. Hartselle’s prom has lived in the gym, the Civic Center, the armory, and now at Ingalls Harbor Pavilion. Prom decorations in the 1970s were large canvas flats that were lined up and painted to represent whatever that year’s theme might be. In later years those flats were discarded for readyto-assemble kits of cardboard and paper columns or tophats or whatever aligned with the theme. Now Ingall’s is simply decorated for a lovely party.
And were prom theme songs a thing in the year you attended? If so, you may remember voting on the song as a class. Maybe something like Bob Seger’s “We’ve Got Tonight.” Prom pictures were once made by a school-hired photographer who posed students in front of a student and teacher-made backdrop with that theme emblazoned across the front. Sometimes there was a wicker chair or a column. And ferns. There were most always ferns.
Now picture-taking is done away from the event and against a city backdrop or perhaps against an elaborate staircase somewhere. Sometimes a professional photographer is hired by a group of students’ families, and some-times one of the parents in the mix is a talented hobbyist who snaps the stills for the memorable evening.
Senior leadout has retained much of the same feel that it had years ago, but for several years now it has become an event for the parents of those seniors being recognized and not simply an event for other teens in attendance. It is a special and memorable evening that marks and celebrates the senior year.
Another thing that has been true for many years now is the level of involvement that teachers and other school employees have in bringing the event to fruition. From scheduling the venue to arranging for ticket sales to decorating and preparing food for the evening to chaperoning there are many duties that fall to adults that likely barely caught your eye when you were a teenager but are probably clear to you now.
There is nothing sensible or logical about holding a prom. Prom serves solely as a piece of the “saying goodbye” ritual that the school has in place to honor its seniors. Prom’s promise is a memory, and year after year, it delivers!
