Redux reminisce or
Fairfield Bay chamber to host Re-Prom banquet
Tayler Rachel graduated from Clinton High School in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, ultimately missing out on her senior prom. Now, just one year later, Rachel and others will get the chance to recreate that special memory, thanks to the Fairfield Bay Area Chamber of Commerce’s first Re-Prom Chamber Gala on April 23.
“I’m a really big checkpoint person,” Rachel said. “And I wasn’t able to have prom because of COVID. Prom is a big thing for a teenage girl, and I am hoping to make up for it with this Re-Prom.”
The prom will be hosted at the Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, 365 Dave Creek Parkway. Tickets are $30 per person or $50 per couple. Dinner will be catered by Hickory Hill BBQ, a local restaurant, and there will be a professional photographer to take pictures, as well as photo opportunities for selfies. The deadline to purchase tickets for the event is April 19.
Rachel said she plans to attend the Re-Prom with her boyfriend, Quinton Tumbleson.
“I already had a dress that I was going to wear to prom before it was canceled, so I am really excited to go,” she said.
Jackie Sikes, executive director for the Fairfield Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and Rachel’s grandmother, said the chamber hasn’t done a banquet in years, and they are usually boring, so she wanted to come up with an idea of how to incorpo
rate a traditional banquet but make it fun.
“We still need to celebrate our businesses,” she said. “We will have our traditional Business of the Year, Volunteer of the Year and Nonprofit of the Year and combine the fun of prom.
“Graduates of the pandemic year didn’t get to have a prom. I think it is going to be a fun event. I’m hoping it will be a good twist on a regular chamber banquet.”
She said Sew What in Clinton is offering a 20 percent discount on dress rentals for the event. Attendees who dress to reflect the year they graduated from high school will receive a free 2021 Chamber Yearbook, in which winners from the evening’s event, as well as individuals and business members, will be listed. Yearbooks will also be available to purchase for $5.
“Everybody seems pretty excited, and we aren’t having any problems selling tickets,” she said. “Everybody seems to be excited to get out and ready to celebrate. Our businesses really struggled last year, so moralewise, we need this.
“We hope to make it a fun night.”
Penny Burns, who graduated from Clarendon High School in Arkansas, went to prom with her high school sweetheart, Jerry Singleton. Burns, 64, plans to attend the Re-Prom with friends from her YaYas group.
“We are a blast; we are an older-lady party group,” she said. “We have women from ages 40 to 64 and a couple who are in their 70s,” she said. “We just have a blast; we get together and party.”
She said she looks forward to reminiscing about her high school days and having fun dressing up.
Sikes said that at her senior prom, after taking a prom picture, she got really sick and had to leave.
“So this will be my first prom,” she said.
Nany Mueller, who serves on the board for the chamber, said this will be a fun activity to do later in life and a chance to think back about how wonderful her past proms were. She attended her prom with her now-husband, Wally Mueller, and they will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary Oct. 30.
“Proms were a big thing, and I think it is funny how out of all the things we used to do, proms are still happening,” she said.
Sikes has been the executive director for the chamber since March 2019. She said that during her first year, the chamber was on a roll and doing well, increasing membership from 86 to 120 in the first couple of months of her being hired.
“Once COVID started, everything came to a screeching halt,” she said.
She said the chamber was still able to host a virtual fashion show in 2020, raising a little more than $500. The chamber also hosted a Festival of Trees in December, when 2,000 cookies were donated. She said it was challenging, but the organization still raised a little more than $500 for that event as well.
“We are learning to think outside the box and do things a little differently,” she said. “I’ve gotten a lot of new members, which has been kind of surprising after a pandemic year.
“I think they are finding value in what the chamber is doing now and realizing that $10 a month is a pretty good investment.” For more information, visit www.ffbchamber.com or call (501) 884-3324. Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or