Prom for the class of 2025 will take place at Pinstripes in Pike and Rose.
The decision to make this year’s Prom at Pinstripes, a bowling alley-bistro fusion, has sparked some controversy among students.
“Renting out the entire venue just isn’t ideal,” senior Maggie Murphy said. “It allows for separation between the different parts of Prom like the DJ and food between all the different floors. It’s just going to be a bunch of separate friend groups rather than one shared experience. No one is going to want to branch out.”
Other students are excited about the new location.
“I’ve been there before and have had a great experience,” senior Emily Ashman said.
“I think having the whole space to ourselves will be really good for Prom, especially with the option to bowl if you don’t want to dance.”
The history of WJ Proms being held at the Bolger Center in Potomac came to a halt last year after the conference hotel had to undergo renovations. Renovations have been ongoing since then and the class of 2024 had their Prom at the Bethesda North Marriott.
While seemingly unconventional, Pinstripes hosted Prom last year for several other MCPS high schools, including Wootton, Rockville and B-CC.
“I thought it was a great venue!” Wootton class of 2024 sponsor Keith Schwartz said. “Not everyone wants to dance at Prom and Pinstripes has the full ballroom for dancing and the DJ, but also a full bowling alley for people who would rather do that.”
WJ has decided to rent out the venue in its entirety rather than just one of the event rooms or floors. Having access to all of Pinstripes includes the upper and lower levels, the outdoor terrace, the restaurant portion and the bowling facilities.
This increased event space highlights the concern of being able to monitor the entire area which the school plans to compensate for with more chaperones than normal. While proximity to the school was a concern in the search for a venue, both Pinstripes and the Marriott are about a 2-mile drive to WJ making the drive to the after-Prom a short one.
Although this change of scenery is drastic, the school has plans to return the event to the Bolger Center once renovations have been completed.
“The Bolger Center is definitely the preference,” Principal Nicole Morgan said. “It was just convenient for everyone and beautiful. There’s only one floor, there’s the ice sculpture and the garden, with lots of different places to take photos.”
The Marriott wasn’t a suitable event space for several reasons, the main one being cost. The venue itself is designed to house more people for longer events, and with Prom only being for an evening, the fees added up quickly. The space alone required a large flat fee along with several additional costly expenses including floor installation and lighting. On top of the high price, the space lacked diversity with the only recreational spaces available being the ballroom or the downstairs lobby.
“I thought [the price] was crazy for a Prom,” Morgan said. “We just want to give the kids options other than just sitting and dancing like at the Marriott.”
