There were fifty percent less students at the Sadie Hawkins dance than the year before when the  dance was a semi-formal TOLO. Instead, most students went out for a night on the town. Some rented a party bus and had their own dance, some traveled to Seattle, attended a play at the theatre instead of going to the actual school dance.

February of 2015 was the first year that TOLO transitioned to the Sadie Hawkins dance. This meant that instead of originally being another semi-formal dance, it was changed into a casual themed dance. “I didn’t like how last year there was a theme. It’s only once in  a while when we get to dress up all fancy, and I didn’t like how last year I almost felt forced to dress up in a super hero costume,” Eva Waltz said.

Patneaude expressed his feelings towards the TOLO dance of 2014. “The year before last the TOLO was awesome. It felt like a second Homecoming, which made the night amazing. I sort of wish that we went back to TOLO instead of Sadie Hawkins,” Patneaude said.

Sydney Bridewell said that she didn’t go to the Sadie Hawkins dance, and instead spent the night with her group in Seattle. “We took a party bus to downtown Seattle, went out to eat at a really nice restaurant, and then took pictures at the Space Needle,” Bridewell said.

After Bridewell’s group went to Seattle, they had an after-party at one of the girl’s houses. “My entire group decided that we didn’t even want to go to the Sadie Hawkins dance, so instead, we spent the night out. If the dance was more formal and didn’t have a theme, we would have gone,” Bridewell said.

Mrs. Zimmerman, our school bookkeeper, said the ticket sales decreased over fifty percent. For TOLO of 2014, the ticket sales were $7,100. For Sadie Hawkins of 2015, the ticket sales were $3,460. “I didn’t even realize how many students skipped out on Sadie Hawkins last year, until I looked at the totals. Seems like we made more of a profit when it was TOLO,” Zimmerman said.

Mrs. Myers, FFA club coordinator, has been in charge of the TOLO/Sadie Hawkins dance for twelve years now. Myers knows that students are complaining about the Sadie’s dance, and has heard that many students do not like the costume aspect of the dance. “TOLO has never been formal. It was their choice whether they got to dress up formally or not,” Myers said.

Myers also explained that when the dance was TOLO, people wanted a less formal Sadie Hawkins dance. Now that the dance is Sadie Hawkins, people want TOLO back.

“We can’t meet the needs of everyone. It seems like students always want what they can’t have. If they want to go to Sadie’s, not dress up in a costume, and instead dress formally, it doesn’t matter. All we care about is that the students have a blast,” Meyers said.

Is TOLO still a no go? Seems like we should rethink this question before the Sadie Hawkins dance approaches for a second year.

by Claire Dayton, staff writer