|
 The evening was cool, but sunny and the event was held on the lawn
of the Logan County Courthouse. This year there were a couple of
notable differences in the way in which the Grand March was
conducted.
In years past there was been a Red Carpet event prior to the Grand
March. This year there was no red carpet event, but there was still
a red carpet. With the theme for this year’s prom being “A Red
Carpet Affair,” the carpet was laid out on the walkway leading from
the north side of the courthouse out toward Broadway Street and
nicely decorated with ferns and a large number of flowering plants.
This year, because of the issues that are ongoing inside the
courthouse following Thursday’s partial collapse of the third floor
ceilings due to heavy rainfall, Grand March attendees were not
permitted inside the courthouse. Instead a long line of young men
and women dressed in formal attire roped around the building
starting on the Broadway street side and stretching all the way
around to the Pulaski Street side.
With a chill in the air, several of the young men showed their
chivalry by removing their suit jackets and allowing their dates to
wear them to protect their bare arms and shoulders.
Another new aspect of this year’s Grand March was that the Prom Royal Court was
introduced first in pairs. The kind and queen of the prom would be named and
crowned later in the evening at the prom. For some of these attendees, the
introductions were made, then they rushed back into the line to go through once
again with their actual dates for the evening.
[to top of second column] |
Crowds began arriving early in the evening and many enjoyed the live music of
the Greg Glick Band as they found their best seat for viewing and waited
patiently for the proceedings to begin.
The emcees for the Grand March this year were once again Joe Ryan and “Fix 96
prize girl” Lisa Lindstrom. Jeff Maxwell of WLCN started the evening welcoming
all the guests and introducing Ryan and Lindstrom. The emcees then recognized
all the sponsors of the grand march event before beginning the night with the
introduction of the royal court.
Then for the next 30 minutes or more prom attendees came out from the sidelines
to take center stage and then proceed down the red carpet.
Prom continued later in the evening at the Lincoln Knights of Columbus.
The annual Grand March, hosted by WLCN is also filmed by the radio station and
will be available for viewing via its website, as well as on the Lincoln College
Comcast Cable Channel 5 in about a week.
[Nila Smith] |
