Mindy Dahl has the hairspray ready for one of the biggest hair days of the year in Eudora.

Jacque’s Place will also have a table of snacks and goodie bags in preparation for prom day Saturday.

“Prom’s a special night, you know,” Dahl said. “It’s really good to get those appointments in, and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event for a lot of people.” 

Preparations for the day can begin months in advance with dress and tux shopping, scheduling hair and nail appointments, and purchasing a matching boutonniere and corsage. 

Dahl said students who attend prom start their day pretty early, with her first appointment at 9 a.m. Saturday. 

Dahl has offered four appointment slots for Saturday and three of those have already been filled. She said her last appointment of the day will be at 3 p.m. because she wants to make sure her clients have enough time to walk the red carpet on Main Street. 

“I know that was really important to one of my girls that she really wanted to be downtown for that, she wanted an early appointment,” Dahl said. 

Dahl has seen trends come and go throughout her 14 years in the business, like the low Chignon bun that was popular last year. 

“The only thing that I’ve ever seen that is pretty consistent is the half-up/half-down. Girls really want to display their long hair,” Dahl said. 

From the fashion perspective, metallic color dresses are popular this year, said Morgan Fellers, co-owner of the pop-up shop The Prom Haus in Lawrence downtown boutique Eccentricity. The shop re-opened in January for the upcoming prom season. 

“It kind of either goes two ways: like people want, like, really sparkly metallics, maybe not lots of beading, but just like fun colors,” Fellers said. “Great fabrics, textured fabrics, that kind of stuff, or they want simple. Almost like two ends of the spectrum.” 

Eudora residents can check out this year’s trends for themselves when the downtown red carpet begins at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

This will be the second year that Katie Lewis of One Window Photography takes photos of students on the red carpet. Lewis said she was asked last year by a friend and couldn’t say no. 

“It was really fun. I loved seeing everyone dressed up,” she said.

Lewis said parents and students can find the pictures posted on One Window Photography by Katie Lewis Facebook page.

Brandon Drake, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Topeka office, said there is a 50 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms Saturday afternoon for Eudora. 

“It should be partly sunny during the day with a high near 77, breezy conditions out of the south around 20 to 25 mph gusting up to around 40 miles per hour at times,” Drake said.

Drake said the chance of rain and thunderstorms will stick around until midnight. 

After the red carpet, students will then make their way to the dance, which will be at the Old Union Pacific Depot in Lawrence. Following prom, doors for All-Night Prom open at 11:30 p.m. at the middle school. 

Starting as early as November, the juniors and seniors began fundraising for All-Night Prom by doing bucket drives. A raffle was also held by parents who assist with All-Night Prom. 

Crystal Meier has been assisting with the All-Night Prom for the past eight years. She started when her daughter was a freshman, which she said is not usual for parents to begin helping before their children can attend prom. 

“We do have a lot of parents that don’t necessarily have juniors or seniors,” Meier said. “A lot of them are kind of like me. They might start their freshman or sophomore year and just kind of stay with it while their kids are in high school. I have quite a few people that have been doing that.”

Meier said All-Night Prom will have about 25 parent volunteers to help run activities throughout the night, including inflatables, interactive games like blind volleyball and tricycle races, poker tables and raffle prizes. 

Meier said she has continued to assist with All-Night Prom for so many years because of the students.

“It’s always fun, you know, to see the kids have fun and to win something to take with them,” she said.

Reach reporter Hannah Nystrom at [email protected]