Wallenpaupack FBLA's Polar Promenade spans generations, hosting senior citizens
Once again, Wallenpaupack proves it is never too late for a "senior prom" even if those tripping the light fantastic are senior citizens, or anyone for that matter. The second annual Polar Promenade was held before Valentine's Day, hosted by the school district's Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter.
The event in the high school cafeteria on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 27, was advertised as an intergenerational semi-formal dance. Admission was free, as were the raffle basket tickets. Chapter President and senior Evan Peppiatt and Vice President Ben Scholl, a sophomore, described the promenade as better than ever. Ben said that “easily 105 attended,” exceeding what they considered a great success a year ago when around 70 to 80 guests came.
Diane Johns from Tafton and Paul McGinnis from Honesdale were crowned as queen and king of the 2024 Polar Promenade. This honor was based on judging the couples' best dance moves. "This year we had a couple who were doing spins, they were moving all over the place. They were having a blast," Evan said.
Ben said once the FBLA students narrowed it down to the last three couples, they invited the crowd to choose by their cheers.
"We learned about the event at the Hawley Senior Center where we go to exercise. And what a marvelous experience! I don’t know who had more fun - the youngsters or the oldsters!?" said Barbara Briden of Tafton, who was accompanied by her husband Richard Briden. She added, "The school, business group, culinary group are to be commended - so much effort obviously went into the project."
Lennie James, also from Tafton, attended with his girlfriend Cheryl Alford. "It was a wonderful event... The food was graciously served, with a buffet assortment to satisfy everyone's appetite," James said, commending Chef Cheryl Lewis of the school's culinary program. "The dance contest was quite entertaining... All in all, everyone who provided their participation to their offered service was excellent and will be gratefully remembered by all those who attended."
Chuck and Ann Sulewski, of Tafton, in a thank-you note sent to the school, commented in part, "This was our first time in attendance, and we had a lovely afternoon. You thought of everything from the food to the dancing, to the picture taking and so on, for a very memorable occasion. Thank you for a great afternoon and wonderful memories."
Ben said the planning began last November. FBLA needed to do a community service project. Evan said it had to benefit the community and be something the students would not profit from. "Everybody had a great opinion, great reviews on the Polar Promenade last year, let's do it again... hopefully reinventing and redoing a few things and make it even better than last year," Evan said.
Donations were gathered from the community, including money, food, raffle baskets, and decorations, Evan said. Ben stated over $800 in financial donations were made.
This year they used live music, including two flutists, Keira Nilsson and Angelo Cresta, and a local singer, Callie Gelderman during dinner. "We also created a playlist of music geared towards their generation and opened up the dance floor later and used that playlist that we made..." Evan said. They also took requests. Another adjustment was to have the event a little earlier, keeping in mind that the older generation may not want to stay out too late, Evan stated. It ran from 2 to 5 p.m.
Some guests came an hour early, they were so excited, Evan said, and one man even showed him the Polaroid photo taken of him at the 2023 event.
"We had good feedback on the photo booth we did last year, so we decided to do it again," Ben said. "We had a Polaroid camera and a bunch of props, so we could take their picture and it prints out, so they have a copy of their picture to keep with them for memories."
Students in the culinary program prepared and managed the dinner. Various businesses donated food, Evan said. The high school semi-formal dance was held the evening before at Cove Haven Resort. Like last year, the decorations were reused to put up in the school cafeteria the morning of the event. Student Council members who ran the semi-formal worked with FBLA on this.
School Ambassador Program and National Honor Society students met the guests at the door and escorted them to the venue.
Word of mouth, social media and posted flyers helped promote the event. Some grandparents of students attended. Evan stated that they purposely held the event in the winter as their research showed this season was harder on the older generation who make be affected by seasonal affective disorder where shorter days can affect one’s mood. The event was, however, open to all ages, Evan said.
"As far as running the event, it went super smooth. It was super enjoyable not only for the senior citizens or the community but just fun for us... everyone was having a blast no matter who you were," Evan said.
He called it an amazing experience to bridge the generations as the guests and students interacted. Ben commented, "One of the letters we received, one of the persons mentioned pretty much how it restored their faith in the younger generation."
Peter Becker has worked at the Tri-County Independent or its predecessor publications since 1994. Reach him at pbecker@tricountyindependent.com or 570-253-3055 ext. 1588.
This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: Wallenpaupack students put on second annual Polar Promenade
