Perry High School's prom returns May 6 with outdoor grand march on Railroad Street

Perry High School’s annual prom will return with a new grand march venue on May 6.

Past proms have been held inside the Perry Performing Arts Center. This year’s grand march is moving outside to Railroad Street near the Hotel Pattee.

“We’re trying to make it a community event for everyone to come out and watch all of the kids,” junior class parent Andrea Tunink said.

Junior class parents and students helped organize this year’s grand march, dance and after-prom as part of the prom committee. Tunink thought of the idea of a red carpet for the grand march once the committee decided on a “Roaring 20’s” theme.

“We’re thinking of the glitz and the glamor, the decorations include lots of pearls and beads, glitter and gold,” Tunink said. “My mind immediately went to a red carpet. We’ll have the kids picked up and dropped off in style and arrive at the party on the red carpet.”

The grand march will be held at 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 6 on Railroad Street. In case of weather, the grand march will be moved inside to the Performing Arts Center.

Bleachers will be set up along the parking stalls on both sides of Railroad Street for families and community members to watch as prom-goers are dropped off in limos and classic cars. The students will then walk the red carpet into the Hotel Pattee for dinner.

The dinner will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. Prom-goers will then be shuttled back in the limos and classic cars at La Poste for the dance, set for 8-11 p.m. After-prom will be held from 11:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. at Perry High School. Junior class parent Rachel Steva said after-prom activities will include a comedian, inflatables, bingo, prizes, food and more.

Junior class president Callie Steva is looking forward to seeing how everything comes together as the Class of 2024 has been busy fundraising and planning this year’s prom and after-prom events.

Rachel Steva said the prom committee reached and surpassed its goal of $20,000. She added that they had a good group of parents and juniors who worked together to raise the funds.

Callie Steva said two of their biggest fundraisers included a Facebook silent auction and scanning tickets at the Iowa State Fair. Other fundraisers included selling sundaes at Friday Fest, a can drive, Hy-Vee gift card sales, baseball concessions, pancake breakfast and more. The junior class also collected funds as part of the Bucket Brigade during the Fourth of July parade. Those funds were split between the junior class and the Perry Chamber of Commerce for the fireworks drive.

Rachel Steva said the community has been very generous in supporting the fundraisers and donating items for the silent auction along with after-prom prizes. The Hotel Pattee and La Poste also donated the use of both facilities for this year’s prom dinner and dance.

“I’m just looking forward to having it all come together,” Tunink said. “We have a really good group of parents working on it and the kids have been a really big help in fundraising and working on decorations and planning.”

She is still finalizing vehicles for the red carpet entrance. If anyone has a classic car and would like to participate in the grand march, Tunink said they can contact her by calling Ben’s Five and Dime at 515-465-4825 or through Facebook.

She encourages the community to come out to see all of the dresses and tuxes up-close during the outdoor grand march on May 6.

"We’re keeping it very open to the community, just to make it fun for everybody," Tunink said. "Just to see how much work goes into it and all the fun the kids are going to have that night."

This article originally appeared on Perry Chief: Perry’s prom returns May 6 with outdoor grand march on Railroad Street