It’s time to dust off your old prom dresses and iron the tux, maybe even pass them off to the dry cleaners for a few days depending on how crazy you got at your high school prom.
The District promises to rekindle fond memories of chaperones and after parties when it opens its doors Friday for the annual adult prom party.
It will be just like high school prom minus your parents’ worried phone calls, having to use fake identification, chaperones and nosey school administrators. Instead of sober and safe fun, people who attend will enjoy lots of hot sweaty grinding, spiked punch and Jell-O shots. 
The District, which was taken over by new ownership two years ago, decided to keep in place a few of the traditional events that seemed to arouse Eugene residents. The prom and the following week’s graduation party happened to be two of those events.
“As far as the prom, we haven’t changed any of that,” co-owner Libby Adams said. “So it’s the same prom that everyone knew and loved, except we’ve added a limo.”
This year, University students with their student ID will get in for free. For everyone else, the cover charge is $3 in advance and $5 at the door.
The Indigo District, the former name of The District, had hosted the event for five years before the venue’s new ownership, and apparently, it packed in the University students like sardines.
Even with its 8,000 square feet of space, there probably won’t be enough room to have any sort of prom king and queen competition, but the owners are still considering it.
“We were thinking about having prom king and prom queen, and we do want to do that,” Adams said. “But sometimes there are so many people that we just can’t do anything.”
Sometimes it’s better to just let the kids dance.
In attempting to keep everyone happy, Adams figures a night full of the bump and grind will suffice.
“I think it’s going to be too packed,” Adams said. “I remember when we were doing our dance-off finale and we couldn’t even … you know what happens is once they get their momentum they don’t want to stop. They just want to keep dancing. They just want to
keep partying.”
The District wouldn’t mind if you decided to bring your mom or dad as a chaperone, but that might be kind of creepy. So in an effort to sidestep awkward situations and keep the weirdos away, the District’s security guards will be in full attendance.
“Crowd control is manageable because we have a good security team that is placed so that they can manage,” Adams said. “Our crowd control is the best in the city, I would say.”
The District’s dress code policy also helps in excluding those who may not be up to par for the District’s attendance.
“On a normal and regular basis we have a dress code so the people that want to be trouble makers tend to get upset that we have a dress code,” Adams said. “I figure anybody that’s going to get upset by that is probably not a good customer for us.”
That said, a dress or tux isn’t mandatory. You just can’t be too revealing.
Instead of trying to wade through the crowds of love stained prom dresses from years gone by to try and get a drink at the bar, maybe taking “pre-funking” to a whole new level should be in order. So break out the hair grease and get your fist pump warmed up. Because as they say on Jersey Shore, you’re going to have to start “beatin’ up the beat.”

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