The universally recognized high school dance; one that carries the weight of many traditions, and modern extravagance, there is not a more famous dance than that of the promenade, better known as “prom”.

Historically; prom was well known for being a milestone event in that of many adolescents, being the first adult social event for many students, the first real dress-up affair, it has been and continues to be, a heavily documented occasion.

The modern high school student spent about $919 on prom in 2015, and in 2018 spends about $600 dollars; the average Ripon High student spent approximately $500 dollars on prom night this year. This includes, transportation, promposals, dress, and any other costs such as makeup artists and manicures for girls.

But has prom lost it’s artistic and traditional appeal, in exchange for a social climate statement, or clout? In an interview with Ripon High’s independent study teacher Mr. Laymon, he stated that while he attended an all-boys’ school, and proms were not in full swing but more mirrored that of a tea dance where students wore their Sunday best, he did attend a prom at an all-girls’ school as a guest.

The tickets were reportedly $10.00 a student in 1958, when converted to a modern price with inflation, this ticket would be about $87.00. The RHS prom tickets in 2018 season were $70.00 a person.

“It was pretty much the same thing you know; buy the girl a corsage or some kind of flower and then pick them up and then go to wherever the dance was, and there wasn’t a DJ, there was a band,” said Laymon.

Chuck Selby and his wife Anne Young played at Laymon’s first prom in 1958. It was the times of Elvis Presley arising in the music pop culture, and bands would play original tunes alongside covers of the songs that were hot at the time, with some jitterbug music. To put the time in perspective, this was before dances like the twist existed, but swing dancing was a common art shared among students. Dances were more common of a pastime, many of the students heading down to the local Valley Dale dance parlor on a Saturday night, young single men looking to dance with girls. Most proms were held at the school, in the multipurpose room, or downtown a place called the Sonic Temple.

“What’s different is now groups of girls might go, but back then it’d be too embarrassing to go without a date… another thing is that people came from further distances and from different schools, really from about a thirty-mile radius, which kids now usually take kids from the same school,” shared Laymon.

A common misconception is that students will spend more money on proms now than they have before, but according to the testimony of Mr. Laymon, his date spending a pretty penny of $50 on her dress, which nowadays converts to about $434.02.

“Everything was pretty much the same. Dancing was different, you had to actually know how to hold a girl. If you didn’t know how to slow dance you learned fairly quickly, and with fast dances, it was really the jitterbug type stuff,” said Laymon.

So while time has passed, and traditions have changed, alongside our values, and social constructs, the excessive spending has not changed, nor the premise of it being a dance that serves as a right of passage for many.