Ability to hang out is cherished

What a difference a day makes.

Students at Cloquet High School found out Friday afternoon that they would not have to wear masks during prom the following evening, AND they would be allowed to dance with anyone they wanted to instead of being limited to a pod of six people. And dance they did, starting out following dance song directions in rows and ending with a giant mosh pit in the school's back parking lot Saturday night.

Senior prom marked Cloquet senior Casey Essler's second formal dance: the first one was Snoball 2020, held a couple months before the pandemic changed the world.

"I honestly thought prom was better [than Snoball] because this year has been dragged down," he said. "There haven't been many big moments this year, but doing something with everyone in your grade is pretty cool."

Essler - who attended prom in a black tuxedo with his classmate Ana Hamann in a backless black dress - said things weren't exactly normal. Essler loved not wearing a mask, but added he also felt a little extra relief because they were outside, where the chances of catching anything are low.

In a year where so many things were canceled or happened virtually because of Covid-19, having that contact, that chance to be together - maskless - meant a lot to the students. While Cloquet got lucky with timing and state regulations, they weren't the only area school to hold a prom or some other type of event to get students together in the waning days of the pandemic.

In Cloquet, the school got around restrictions on indoor gatherings in place when planning began by holding the prom outside in the back parking lot. The junior class planned it, renting huge white tents that offered some shelter in case of rain, and decorating outside as well as inside. There was a DJ - the same one who usually plays - and a grand march to jumpstart the evening. As usual, the grand march was held in the auditorium, but with a Covid twist: no audience members other than the participating juniors and seniors were allowed. Instead the march was streamed on YouTube. Only seniors could come and no dates from other schools were allowed.

About 22 miles north of Cloquet and a week earlier, South Ridge High School didn't have a prom, although they did hold a grand march at the school on May 1 with students in masks, allowing parents to come and watch.

But community members stepped in to hold their own "morp" ("prom" spelled backwards) in the gym of the old Alborn school, now known as the Alborn Heritage Gym. It was not a school-sanctioned event.

The work to make it all possible began the year before, when Brady Stroschein talked to Shawn Niehaus - who owns the former school and now apartment building - and suggested they rebuild the damaged gymnasium instead of converting it into more apartments.

Niehaus said he'd been told by more than one contractor that the water-damaged floor was unfixable, but with the help of Stroschein and other skilled and unskilled volunteers, they made it happen.

They spliced lumber off the stage into the gym floor. Community members helped. Kids painted and cleared out trash.

When it came time for the spring dance, parents, kids and community members decorated and handled preparations, as it was not a school event. Even the Alborn Tavern donated the use of its karaoke machine for the music.

"It was truly a community event," Stroschein said. "Everybody pitched in."

"I'm happy to have a place to gather," Niehaus said. "A lot of small towns struggle to have a place to gather, to have community."

While the morp wasn't the first event held there - there are elementary school sports practices, pickleball, taekwondo and yoga classes on a weekly basis - it was definitely the prettiest. "We even draped fabric from the ceiling: it looked like a wedding," Stroschein said. "I bet there was a total of 60 hours into two days of decorating."

Zandria Smith-Ekman and her date Matthew Bober were two of the teenagers who helped decorate, then got to enjoy a senior prom with their classmates. "I thought it was honestly the greatest idea they did for us," she said.

Smith-Ekman said it was "definitely the most memorable moment" of a senior year marred by Covid. Most of her 33 classmates attended.

"I think this [dance] really made us all happy," she said. "There are a lot of things we couldn't do with Covid-19, a lot of livestreaming, wearing masks 24/7. We had a blast."

In total, close to 50 students headed to the former school for the dance that evening.

"It was nice to provide something for the kids that they deserved and keep some normalcy in their lives," Stroschein said

Other schools around the county have also found ways to celebrate. Cromwell-Wright held prom May 1, while Carlton took its seniors to the movies. Esko is holding its own prom this Saturday, May 15, with a grand march that will go from the gym to outside where parents can watch. After a dinner break, there will be outside prom with games, activities and dancing at the football field - weather permitting - followed by an outdoor movie, according to superintendent Aaron Fischer. Moose Lake has a grand march and dance scheduled for May 22.

"I heard some kids say it was the most normal thing they'd experienced in over a year," said Cloquet prom coordinator Chandra Allen, admitting it made her want to cry a little bit. "I don't really think about it that way, but they do. That was good to hear. Hopefully the rest of their events will feel the same way."