Guess who? Check out these P.E.I. throwback prom photos
'All the cliques that existed throughout the school years disappeared that night'
Remember your prom — were you pretty in pink? Asked to sing on stage to your fellow graduates, or asked to leave?
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CBC asked some well-known Islanders to share their prom photos and a few stories.
See if you can figure out who they are before reading the captions!
'Asked to leave'
At his 1997 prom for Charlottetown Rural High School, web series producer (Just Passing Through) and filmmaker (Pogey Beach) Jeremy Larter created a one-of-a-kind dress out of cigarette packages.
"It took about a month to scavenge the cigarette packs from various parking lots and from the smokers," Larter recalls. His girlfriend at the time made the crown.
Larter was asked to leave about 20 minutes after arriving "for giving some of the older teachers heart palpitations... probably for 'spoiling' the prom by not taking it seriously enough," he said.
When asked what sparked the idea for the outfit, Larter said "Probably good old-fashioned teenage rebellion."
'Quite the little feminist'
Back in 2001, this journalist approached her prom from Colonel Gray High School "with practicality and purpose."
The Guardian's Teresa Wright was already living on her own, paying rent and bills, so didn't have a lot of money for prom.
"But I grew up with a father who produced community theatre, so I knew how to get glam on budget," she recalls.
She found some "absolutely fabulous sparkly strappy sandals" for just $5 and rented her dress for $25. She did her own nails and makeup — "heavy on the glitter eyeshadow."
"I was quite the little feminist when it came to my prom date. I asked him, I didn't wait to be asked. I made the dinner reservations (Off Broadway) and we went dutch," she said.
They drove to the school in a regular sedan, parked it in the school parking lot and walked in like any normal day. The dance was held in the school's cafeteria.
"I couldn't get over how different everyone looked all dressed up," Wright remembers.
"I also marvelled at how the fancy clothes had a kind of equalizing effect for the night. All the cliques that existed throughout the school years disappeared that night, with people happy to chat and hang out with folks they'd have never socialized with before. Maybe we were all just happy that high school was officially behind us."
'Forever Young'
Award-winning P.E.I. singer-songwriter Meaghan Blanchard graduated in 2006 from Bluefield High School in Hampshire, P.E.I.
She's still friends her "fabulous prom date," Colin Butler.
"I think the most fun part was going to the 'Dream Park' in Cornwall where we all got our pictures taken," Blanchard recalls.
She was asked to perform the graduation theme song, Forever Young.
After graduation Blanchard attended university in Sackville, N.B., for a year, but came home after that to record her first album, and, she said, "the rest is history!"
World champion
"Prom was a lot of fun, it was great to celebrate with all of our friends, a lot of whom we'd been with for the past 12 years," recalls 2017 World Curling champion Brett Gallant. He attended with fellow graduate Allyson McGuigan.
His advice for those attending proms over the next few weeks?
"Enjoy the day together with everyone. Once you've graduated and everyone heads to university to begin their careers, some of your best friends will probably be scattered across the country," Gallant said.
Gallant currently lives in St. John's, NL, where he is a full-time athlete, but will return home to P.E.I. this summer to finish his business degree at UPEI.
There's no resting on his golden laurels, though: Gallant shares, "our goal is to represent Canada at the upcoming 2018 Olympics in South Korea."
What a peach
The Islander in this photo taken years ago before the prom at Harrison Trimble High School in Moncton, N.B., may be the most difficult to place. With her date Tim Wallace, she looks very different than the 2017 version you know from CBC television's Compass.
Pretty in a peach taffeta dress made by a family friend — who also made her beau's matching bow tie — it's producer and on-air personality Tracy Lightfoot.
"Everything matched in the '80s and '90s!" she said, noting their flowers also contained shades of peach.
Lightfoot had been to the proms in Grade 10 and 11, but remembers being really excited for the one in Grade 12.
"Tim was one of my best friends in high school, and we are still friends today," she said.
"I didn't have a boyfriend at the time and he didn't have a girlfriend so we decided to go together, and I remember thinking there was no one I would rather go with. He came to pick me up and took me out to dinner with a couple of other friends. Going out to a fancy restaurant was a big deal at the age of 18!"
After the dance, they went to the school's all-night party and stayed up til sunrise.
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