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| Prom fashion show from 2015 with our Michæla (second from upper right), taken by Poppi (RIP). Others TBD (photo can be removed or censored by request. This is why I don't usually use real people, especially this young and these days. I'm no solicitor myself, mind.). |
If Rolling Stone can branch out, so can I. I've posted more than once about my prom experience in bits, and I've tried putting it on Facebook, Bored Panda and Nextdoor, but it just isn't as effective, and they would just disappear like they would on X. This site is more designed for such an article.
Like many people, I didn't get to go to prom in high school when I was the age of these kids (I didn't even realise my niece Michæla had like her folks had [my sister is her mother]). My grades weren't the best to say the least, we probably couldn't afford to have me go too, I didn't dress up that nice in those days, and I had no desire to anyway. Not long after that, I transferred out of town to another school for a period, but I wasn't sure if prom was held at that stage, although I later learned it was before I went, and occasionally since after changing direction. I know there were other dances and events held throughout the year, however. Prom never crossed my mind at that point either. I'd be lucky to get a reunion with anyone from that era, but that's for another day. Just one with people who attended before I was born.
It took all the way until 2015-16 for me to finally regret having missed out on junior prom and senior ball after looking on Syracuse.com or seeing it around. Can't recall what triggered it, yet many things came into my life quite late, and some still have yet to occur. Only just went to my first two weddings just before that (again, for another time). I thought I would be trying to come up with a prom for others who also were denied that rite of passage they seen on TV or movies, or saw their friends and families get to embrace. Turns out that has been a thing for some time. Drew Barrymore is said to have paved the way since even she's in the same boat as me, but didn't finish school, and put together a couple do's and went on one of the chat shows, so when her two girls are older, she can take them to get their dresses for their big nights. In recent years, adult or second chance proms have been held nationwide.
Here's the list of all the post-traditional proms (we can change the narrative here) that I have attended:
1. Singers Karaoke Club • Syracuse, 21/5/16 - My first one ever nearly two decades too late!
2. Singers • 20/5/17 - Last one until 12. They really didn't have to take it off for so long.
3. Wholely Grounds at the Road • 14/4/18 - NY 175, Onondaga Hill (had to dig up the calendar since everything is lost to obscurity, even though it wasn't that long ago)
4. Marriott Syracuse Downtown • 10/3/19 - Charity family event held in the grand ballroom upstairs*
5. Wholely Grounds at the Road • 13/4/19 - They closed in September (I just know that the event wasn't right before Easter), Alice in Wonderland/Charisma Records theme (final one at this location)
5a. Studio 54 • 21/6/19 - NY 5, downtown - I didn't really stay too long because of delays and the hours. Venue went the way of unrelated downstate namesake*
No events in 2020 because of the pandemic, of course. We'll just leave it right there.
6. TK Tavern • 16/10/21 - Camillus (original location), Salt City Collective (former Meetup group) - First one as things were opening up again. Also the closest thing to a second chance homecoming in CNY since this occurred more during that season, although I'll consider setting up something with that name since I missed out on that as well (whole other post since that's a different set of parameters)
7. Sharkeys Bar & Grill • 23/7/22 - CR 57, Liverpool (Bayberry) - Clay Panthers Pop Warner football team fundraiser* (I found this that June while going to the St Sophias Orthodox Church Greek Festival)
8. TK Tavern • 2/10/22 - Salt City Collective; moved the next years event after fire in January 2023
9. St Josephs Catholic Church • 20/5/23 - W Genesee St., Camillus (no relation to hospital)*
10. Brewerton Centre for the Arts • 24/6/23 - US 11, Brewerton (former church turned rental space)*
11. Ukrainian National Home • 14/10/23 - S Wilbur Ave., Tipp Hill - SCC new location (may just have been the one time. 2024 prom cancelled due to leaders personal commitments and groups uncertain future, not even holding pub quiz downtown since January 2025, and perhaps Meetups rate rises. Last one to date, as of 2026, as group are most likely disbanded for good after a year without new events)
12. Singers • 8/6/24 - Full circle (only one here in town at the same time as the regular kind this year; Hollywood Nights theme [I don't always remember those, and they're hard to come up with since many are overdone like Gatsby or "under the stars"]. However, as of 2025, they are now Glastonbury in reverse, leaving me and the other diehards to worry that they've gone back to the starting gate and I'm scrambling once again. I brought this up with the owner, and she said they're focussed on other events at this time, but perhaps, missus will bring it back since a couple came to Halloween looking like they were dressed more for prom, so it could be the spirits using them to tell me it could happen after all)
13. Salt City Bar • 31/12/24 - S Salina & W Onondaga Sts, Salt City Market, Downtown Syracuse - New Years Eve Prom (also ticks the box for NYE, which has been even more elusive for me due to cost, outside pressures, and transport. I don't necessarily have to stay until midnight because I get knackered, everybody and their others trying to get home after a few pints, and I'm usually teetotal. At least this one has since become annual, and doesn't have a cover charge like most others held downtown and overall)
UPDATES 2025-26:
14. SaltSpace • 16/5/25 - Wyoming, Marcellus & S West Sts; Near West Side - Similar in scope to 3 and 5. Found at fairly short notice. First one of this year through an NGO agency. Low-cost and low-profile. Only one done as of 17/6/25. May suggest homecoming as Septembers theme, despite being a truncated version of prom (see other article), since Octobers would be Halloween (we'll go there when it's time).
15. Rome Capitol Theatre • 28/6/25 - W Dominick St, Downtown Rome - First Pride Prom and only one at all that I would go to outside Onondaga County due to lack of one of any sort announced near home so far since 14 (which is of a different calibre to put it that way). Whilst a free event (if you live right around there anyway), the cost of travelling (I can only get there and back by train and bus, and even driving could discourage anyone from outside the Mohawk Valley from going out of their way at this time, given recent events). Also my third Pride event, after getting to Uticas festival at the last minute, missing the wedding (post for a later time) and parade back in Syracuse. Unfortunately, delays with the train and busses have undermined the festivities and I had to get a lift back home. I have then decided just not to attend the Enchanted Adult Prom in New Hartford as a result, because it's now Disenchanted, if you will, even if it's during the week and a better chance at getting home in time, I just couldn't let that happen again, so no more of this on the road bit until I have my driving licence and an earnt pay cheque because of Murphys Law. If a miracle happens, then I'll go back to Oneida County for another go. Maybe even spend the night. Also had looked into a Recycled Prom on the east side of Rome near Griffiss Park, but I really didn't want to go through all of the doolally again, and spend more time and money getting there and back than being there, even if I may be reducing my carbon footprint by not driving, but even Coldplays Chris Martin would probably think it's more unorthodox than getting caught at one of his shows (story for another day; you know the one by now, but never mind).
16. Salt City Bar • 31/12/25 - Once again feeding two birds with one scone (coming from PETA's recent grassroots campaign to make classic idioms cruelty-free). This years theme was a disco '70s prom. I even wore a wig, one of three that would pass for that era, and a novelty replica tuxedo that fits me that I bought on eBay that I pay for in bits to ease my budget, so I don't have to wear my black suit again, since even Johnny Cash didn't wear black everyday (even though a competitor I went to had a Shadow Party where he could if he were still alive and not have to pay). The only adult prom event in Syracuse at all in 2025, so I hope next year, Singers will reconsider prom (just had another floof event, however), as will others who have done it in the recent past, and new people will try it in 2026 as a way to raise money or at least give those from their 20s to 90s another shot at prom. Even have something closer available for homeschooled kids since that has grown since COVID. Meanwhile, I also looked at an event in Lake George, but going away that far overnight in the middle of winter to an area I haven't gone to in thirty years' time is now unneeded, so I will now wait until spring for these events to happen like back in the old days since I typically don't do this all year. I even checked to see if St Valentines Day prom exists, and it does, but I'll add to the list when the next one comes along that I'll go to, but that will now have to wait until next year instead. Now I'll have a tuxedo that I can use again since the suit was used for more solemn if not sombre occasions. Would rather wear it to a wedding (later post).
17. SaltSpace • 15/5/26. Same as 14. For some reason, the organisation have no public record online of this event in previous years. Had to check my e-mail for private confirmation of last years do. The paper flyer I had may have been binned since then. Only available on private Facebook group. Also attended belated St Patricks Day event (due to fixed pattern of these monthly events). Could even go for their early Halloween event in October, but we'll start a separate post for that time of year another day.
18. Salt City Bar • 30/5/26. CNY Pride - Meet Cute - Bliss: Prom. First non-NYE prom held there and first Pride Prom in Syracuse in several years not for younger people (that one I'm too old for and has an emo theme this year). Won't need to go to Rome now, especially since I will be with the floofs at Fair Haven when that occurs, which is more elusive by comparison, and even if I could drive from one side of the region to the other and have everything for both, it would just be too much, and Mom used to say, "Pick one!" (even though she wouldn't be wild about either, as she was conservative, but that's a story for another day). Back in town, it was good to have this for all legal drinking ages at the eve of Pride Month, and no one gave a toss that my cheap tuxedo from last time was fixed with Sellotape I had to settle for after tearing it when floofing up for snaps since the other kind arrived too late in the post. That pales in comparison to having ordered a drink I assumed was non-alcoholic and had vodka. I was in a bit of a state, but it went away before I had to get home. Won't ever let that happen again because I'm not really supposed to do that. The one mocktail in the specials had lavender, which is for wearing, not eating or drinking. At least the other place had one I could relate to more. We need a sober bar here, but that's one for the sister blog. One slip isn't worth going to the clinic over. The kids can't even have drink yet in this country, and have to watch a dramatisation of what happens with drink driving before prom.
19. Lost Horizon • 26/9/26. Goth Prom. You've heard that right. Just after 18, I look up adult prom and find this darker variation being held a month before Halloween. Marillion and District 97 with the late John Wetton had played here (even though his missus says it's a dive, having seen the former in the old days). I have bought several bands that come close to Goth like the Cure, Bauhaus, Lacrimosa and Dead Can Dance for Boris, but I would feel like an imposter, just like if I did the same thing at the other Pride Prom for younger people if I were their age, except it's Goths cousin emo, which would call me a poser. Both make Arena look like Showaddywaddy by comparison, but I digress. I could take up the challenge and either Goth up my existing tuxedo perhaps, although I'd hate to compromise it, or just look for some affordable fancy dress, even though I'm not supposed to get any more right now (floof, anyway). This would be held just as homecoming season starts at high schools. The Goth Kids from South Park might consider that to be conformist, yet a prom more their sort may be up their alleyway. I don't know. If it was downtown, it would be as easy as the last one, but I could get there all on my own by then being on the east side right near deWitt. I'm not that desperate, but I do try to keep an open mind within reason.
20. TBD. Any registered charity or other non-profit organisation looking to raise money (also the post on the sister blog can elaborate on this too). I have an upcoming event with one that I know, but it's not really prom per se. I could maybe bring it up with them, despite being late in the season, but I just can't promise anything. I put this here so I have an even number out of principle. One adult prom I found on Facebook claiming to be in July I won't put here until a venue and other solid information is confirmed.
*One-off and/or not held again since.
Younger people who didn't have prom several years ago because of COVID can now attend since it's usually at the local or at least serving drinks (I don't typically drink). They make a great fundraiser if anyone needs to raise money and are held year round nationwide (yet you may still need GoFundMe just to bankroll the budget to hold the event unless you can find sponsors). I would get a right headache from a regular prom today at my age listening to todays Top 40! I don't need to be prom king or even have a date (been stag all my life). It's never too late. I'd consider holding a second chance homecoming in the fall since no one has had one here yet and I didn't get to go to that either, even though some may call it prom lite (semi-formal could even be that). There should also be one just for senior citizens since I don't know if one was done here before either. Why just let the kids have all the fun? Now if I could only get to one of theirs just to see it in person, noise or no noise (I have managed to get downtown for ones held there and see them head inside since the pavement is public property, and I pay city and county taxes myself, mind).
UPDATE: Salt City Collectives prom for October went the way of Glasto itself and took the year off due to the organisers personal commitments. To think Singers pulled an oasis and the other is gone now. Someone else had one on 30 November, but it's too expensive, and they don't even let you know where it's held until you pay for your ticket. Even if I got the money, I don't know. I'd rather wait until spring anyway, when the traditional sort is held in this country. I'd look into the homecoming one since those are rarer. Perhaps SCC could start having it in March-June before they have to compete, even though I'm lucky to get the one anymore. I've been spoilt. By October, I'd shifted focus to that other tradition.
UPDATE II: While SCC are still up in the air at this stage, and Singers' decision is final, as they won't have it past June, I did reach out to Emerald Cocktail Lounge on Tipp Hill and asked if they could have a go at it for a bit of a change. They said they'd consider. SCC's last one to date was a block away, yet Emerald has the rooftop, and I went for the other thing a couple weeks after going around the corner. Just hope it's still warm out at nights this time, mind. Across the county in Brewerton, a second do is another big maybe, even if the kids will be done with theirs by the time this place can clear another Saturday and I can arrange another lift that far north, but after Rome, it may as well be Timbuktu!
UPDATE III: One event held in Downtown Syracuse was blatantly mislabelled. The Fitz at Oh My Darling! had a band called Prom, and I went through all the trouble for nothing. I became the Geraldo Rivera of prom (if you're even younger than me, he wound up with egg on his face in 1986 when late Prohibition mobster Al Capone had the last laugh from beyond the grave when the trailblazing presenter had a one-off special looking for riches in the Chicago native gangsters so-called vault, only to find little to go on. I wound up buying a non-alcoholic beer because the talk show legend wasn't around for me to hold his. I decided against one in New Hartford on Memorial Day Weekend (held at a dive bar and motel, not the Enchanted one in July at a posher competitor a couple miles away) because it would have been held at 9.30, I can't afford a motel room and bus ticket, even if one was available, the place seemed dodgy, and I just want something back here in Syracuse at a place I can get to that I can afford. "Prom" returned to Oh! My Darling since then, so know it's like going to see Arena and thinking they're playing in one when all they can get are small places like these, but that's a story for another day.
UPDATE IV: What I thought was another upcoming prom turned out be another hoax. Some hairdresser was also coming up with the idea and used AI to create an advert, but she's no more suited to hold one than I am, so back to the starting post. She just gets young girls done up during the season, I'm quite sure. With other concerns, I have less focus on prom after June. I have started Prom Aid (two separate words to avoid confusion with ProMaid) to raise money for kids trying to afford tuxedos, suits and/or dresses, or to start a prom, including adult prom, but that's for a standalone post since it's too much to just put right here. I didn't launch a GoFundMe yet since the sister projects are going nowhere as usual.
UPDATE X: Now even my own longtime hairdresser of all people wants an adult prom since she and her husband are in the same boat and missed it themselves in younger days, and haven't gone to one yet, while her youngest daughter from her first marriage is about to go to her senior ball, so now I have to find the pair of them one for all of us this year since I don't think we can go on the road since they have a young son together, as well as having this for everyone here since all of these rises are making it so one doesn't have to spend on getting done up and travelling if you can't have your faery cake and eat it too (if that's what they're serving at the buffet table, granted that's in the budget). People may already think there's bugger all to do here as it is. At least I got some inside scoop on the traditional one coming up. Even the paper doesn't list them all in advance, and they aren't cleared to do every one of them (it's a long story, that). Doubt missus could get me through the door, as it can make Studio 54. the DMZ and Fort Knox each look like an open house by comparison. Lucky I even got floof through over at the zoo.
Meanwhile, you-know-who yet again can't be arsed to have it anymore, deciding to just move on to other events. Shock, horror. If I do get to go to Connecticut for Halloween, two can play at that game. AI explained that the trend has all but gone in another direction, and even smaller markets like Yates County can do it now because there's less competition and overhead, while big cities can still have a go now and then. I don't know if I would even book the local like the floofs do if it can't be at nights since people won't always come in broad daylight with the nice weather, and even some having to work at the weekend. The other post lists everywhere else in CNY I can hire out instead, so I should just let the poor mans cabaret go. If they do come around, even after another several years, so be it. A colleague of mine likes karaoke, but he's just too sensible for a place like that to say the least, and I don't even know if he's into prom. He's no more a dancer than I am to put it that way, but I don't know him well enough just yet. However, he decided against Singers himself since he doesn't like to go out late at nights. Just as well.
Now some other person on Facebook claims that on 10 or 11 July, there'll be an adult prom. Whether or not it's my scene doesn't matter. It's whether or not they have the resources to hold one, or if they're no more well-equipped than I am. I won't write it on my calendar until they have it fully confirmed so I don't clear my night for something that doesn't even exist because some chancer had led others on. This is why half of the ones I've gone to were one-offs, because of all the planning and budgeting involved, while others were short-lived or on the way out. I may even consider holding one for my birthday in August, even though it's in the middle of summer, and I've never had a real birthday party this century.
Pride Prom in Rome is back, but I just don't need it anymore since there's now one back in town that I can go to, not wanting to repeat last years debacle. Even with the beach conflict, the Copper Easel is closing the very next day, so I don't know if the owner will change direction for next year, or who will take over by that point. I wish it could be on a Friday. I may have my driving licence and a car by that stage, but I might even have a different schedule, so one day might work over the other. Someone told me Saturdays don't for him because of his job. What a difference a year makes. I'm sure a new person or sponsor can be planned for once this years activities are in the books. That's the event for that area.
Anything new on the prom front shall be added as it comes. I keep leaving this open on draft because there seems to be something new to throw in, especially during the season. AI can really only tell you so much. If I could gain access to a run-of-the-diploma-mill prom that the other kind can't truly replicate without having to see students pose for snaps from the pavement, that would be winning the pools, since I never even though of going at their age and it just wouldn't have been done if I had wanted to anyway. I'm likely a bit older than these kids' parents (she doesn't give out her age to just anyone, mind).
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