ATHOL – Once again, an alcohol and drug-free party will be held following this year’s Athol High School prom which, for the first time, will include both juniors and seniors.

This will mark the 30th anniversary of the first after-prom party. Launched in 1993, the party was organized following the tragic death of AHS sophomore Heidi Reye Wood, a member of the Class of 1993. Wood was struck by a drunk driver while riding her bike on South Athol Road on Sept. 1, 1991.

School Committee member Elaine Gauthier explained that Citizens for Safe and Sober Athol—started in 1990 after a group of nurses and social workers attended a presentation on alcohol and drug abuse at Mt. Wachusett Community College—decided to bring attention to the twin problems of alcohol and drug abuse in the community by actively reaching out to young people. Following Wood’s death and reading a publication distributed by the Virginia Dept. of Motor Vehicles on the topic, the group settled on organizing an after prom party. The Virginia DMV booklet is still used in planning the event, said Gauthier, who is also helping to organize this year’s party.

Gauthier told the Athol Daily News she decided to get involved in the year’s event because “my son is senior this year, and it’s 30th anniversary of this after prom party.”

While grant monies were used to fund the party in its early years, Gauthier explained over the years, local businesses make donations.

“We sent the letter out in the last month or so and local businesses will either donate a check toward this cause or maybe, if they’re a restaurant, they can donate food for the event,” Gauthier said. “Someone might donate cases of water. Prom and graduation are the highest-ranked events that cause to kids to go out and drink or do drugs and drive or be reckless. This all began years ago because of that fact.”

As in recent years, this year’s party is being held at the high school. Gauthier explained that former Athol Police Officer Chris Casella and his wife Mary, among the original organizers of the party in 1993, had wanted the event held elsewhere because it is sponsored by the parents of the seniors, rather than being overseen by the school district.

“They wanted to not be in the high school building so that the kids wouldn’t feel like they were going to school for the evening,” Gauthier explained. “At some point, I don’t know exactly when, it got moved from the (Athol Area) YMCA up to the high school.”

This year the event, in addition to food and drinks, will feature an inflatable obstacle course.

“And they’ve got these pedal bikes with a racetrack that they can do,” she said. “Basically, things where everyone’s in the gym, the hallway, and the cafeteria.”

Two classes are combining for this year’s prom and after prom party, said Gauthier, with 50 of the 77 seniors signed up to attend. She said the high school and class advisers are the ones in charge of fundraising and organizing the prom itself and made the decision to combine the classes.

“That’s a high school sponsored event,” said Gauthier. “We, as a parent group, that kind of weighed on us because this has always been a senior after prom event. We didn’t feel right by saying, ‘Okay, it’s a combined prom, but we’re only going to have an after party for the seniors and their dates.’ So, we invited the junior parents and students to attend the after prom party with their dates. It just felt wrong to exclude them, so I think it’s going to be quite a large group this year; maybe around 150 or 160 students and their dates.”

This year’s prom is taking place Saturday, May 6, at the Tully Boiler Bar & Grille in Orange and runs from 6 to 10 p.m. The after prom party starts at 11 p.m. and will end by 4 a.m. Students will have to be picked up by a parent or other responsible adult.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.

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