The Heavy Lifting

I’m happy to report that the heavy lifting is behind me (no, not my behind – that’s heavy lifting of a different type).

I’m talking about the heavy lifting surrounding Prom Plus, the after-prom event that has been held every year for the past 25 years for Crescenta Valley High School seniors and their guests.

This year’s event, held once again at the Crescenta Cañada YMCA, was a success with over 345 students attending (52% of prom ticket buyers). They arrived early – we typically are ready for their arrival around midnight – but this year the prom was at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles. With minimal traffic on the road in addition to the prom being over at 11 p.m., kids started showing up at the Y at 11:30 p.m. At 11:45 p.m., with quite a crowd outside the entry to the casino, we opened the doors to welcome the 2018 prom-goers and their dates to a night I hope they will remember forever.

And we gave them plenty to do to keep those memories alive: a mechanical bull, full casino, climbing wall, Euro bungee, human foosball, laser tag, zipline … these plus much more was ready for them.

Putting on an event of this magnitude takes a lot of help and I want to take this opportunity, as president of Prom Plus, to say “thank you” to those many, many people who lent a hand to make this year’s event a success. Shirley Markonich oversaw the massive registration effort that saw eight volunteers stationed at the front of the Y to welcome our guests. We had a kitchen that was humming from 9 p.m. on Saturday until 5 a.m. on Sunday with volunteers like Marta Wiggins, librarian of the La Crescenta Library, making quesadillas (almost non-stop) with supplies provided by Los Gringos Locos. Kathy Seeto cubed fruit to make fruit kebabs while her husband Scott worked on pulled pork sandwiches. Faye Vahdani kept the workspaces clean throughout the night. The “smoothie ladies,” the dynamic duo of Theresa Toomey and Sara Sellars, kept the blenders whirring all night. Then there were the quiet ones on patrol who kept their eyes open for those things that didn’t belong – and there were a couple of surprises.

But the night flew by and, before I knew it, Joe Allen was in the prize room giving out everything from stuffed chairs to gift cards to the guests who made it to the end of the night – or the beginning of the morning, depending on how you looked at it. Then the vets from the local American Legion and VFW showed up ready to clean up – a welcome sight because I was exhausted.

I have to throw out one disappointing fact – we had a lower number of attendees than I had hoped for. I found out that there was a big local party that featured alcohol that drew some of our kids away. While not surprised – this happens every year I think – I question who was the provider of the booze. Parents? Too many times the answer is yes.

While I don’t understand their thinking, I do take comfort in being a member of a group that works hard to provide an alternative – and a safe one at that – for our kids.

  robin goldsworthy