Brandon Steg has made the drive from Warren County High School to downtown McMinnville countless times, but Monday afternoon may have been the trip with the most anxiety.
That’s because he wasn’t sure how girlfriend Eden Fryar would react to a special message he had displayed on the Park Theater marquee asking her to the prom.
“I was nervous for sure,” admitted Brandon. “That drive from school felt like it lasted forever.”
His apprehension didn’t escape his girlfriend.
“He was acting so weird, I knew something was up, I just didn’t expect he would do something so dramatic,” said Eden, who immediately noticed the marquee message and said yes to his prom date request.
Brandon said he thought of the idea about a month ago, but had to wait until Monday because it was the first day the Park Theater marquee was available. He said he and Eden have been dating about a year and both are WCHS seniors.
Corbin Hildreth was thinking up a similar promposal for his girlfriend, Madeline Haston. He chose the Horner Rausch sign on The Strip and it’s easy to see why.
“It’s a spot where everyone will notice it,” said Corbin, who said his sign idea was out of necessity. “She told me I better not ask her in person. So I was out here Monday morning putting up this sign in the rain. Her first choice was she wanted me to ask her by animal, like get her a dog and put the question on its collar. But her parents didn’t go for that idea.”
Corbin said he and Madeline drove by the sign and she didn’t notice it at first. That’s when he pulled in the parking lot to drive by it again. That’s when Madeline read the message and said yes.
WCHS senior Sara Panter did manage to pull off a prom-posal by animal. Because her boyfriend graduated last year, she was the one who officially asked him to the big dance.
“I bought him two pigs and the sign I made said, ‘Can I hog you at prom?’” said Sara. Her boyfriend is Hayden Hildreth, who is Corbin’s brother.
“He has a farm and he has every kind of animal you can think of but he doesn’t have pigs,” said Sara. “He’s been talking about wanting some pigs so that’s when I came up with this. We drove to a barn in Morrison and I told him to go pick out two pigs. As he was looking, that’s when I showed him the sign.”
The pigs are more than just a clever prop. Hayden gets to keep them in addition to landing a date to the prom.
The Warren County High School prom is set for April 29. For anyone who would like to make a unique prom-posal with a newspaper ad or a video message on the Standard website, contact Ashley Wright at 473-2191.