Prom Afternoon

In honor of prom season, Rec and Park held its own Senior Prom at the County Fair Building yesterday afternoon. There were few tuxedos or slinky dresses; no stretch limos, kegs of beer or blunts. Instead, some 200 seniors, most dressed casually, snacking on cheese and crackers and juice and dancing to golden oldies played by the “Island Groove”, the house band from the Tonga Room at the Fairmont hotel. To paraphrase Prince, all were partying like it was 1979 — and having a ton of fun.

The dance floor was full with many pulling out moves from the salsa, swing and Zumba classes taught at the city senior centers.

Senior Prom used to be a spring staple, held every year from 1985 until 2020 when the pandemic shut it down. Katherine Villasin, who coordinates senior programming for the department, decided it was time to bring it back. “I literally woke up one morning and said this has got to happen for our community, to let people 55 and over know that they’re young at heart and to enjoy what we have, especially in our parks.”

Katherine Villasin .She’s no stranger to putting together a prom. She organized the dances when she was a student at Sacred Heart, including the Homecoming Dance. “It was an Egyptian theme – Night of the Nile.”

Patrick and Gloria Avera heard about the prom at the Golden Gate Park Senior Center where Patrick teaches an ukelele class. He was scheduled to perform Hawaiian music at the end of the afternoon. Neither went to senior prom in high school. “We’re making up for lost time,” he said.

Marilyn Stryka and Michael Wade. Michael’s high school was too small to hold a prom, but somewhere along the way he picked up on the dress code.

Diedra:attended prom when she was in high school. “It was good,” she said. But, “it’s much better at this age. Honestly, I might have been a bit intimidated back then, even though I was a freestyle dancer and loved the music of the era. Now I’m comfortable in my skin.”