Vestavia Sadie Hawkins Dance

On January 27th, 2024, many students from Vestavia Hills High School drove up to the Civic Center for the Sadie Hawkins Dance. Similar to Homecoming, Sadie Hawkins is one of three dances at Vestavia, and is often held in January. 

Students were thankful that the dance was held at the latter end of January, as the Saturday a week before held temperatures below freezing. While the normal freezing temperatures of Sadie’s were only partly present,  there was a sprinkling of showers throughout the afternoon. 

Rain did not stop the festivities. The dinners, dance, and most afterparties were held indoors, and the main portion impacted by the weather was pictures. Students were able to make do with indoor picture venues such as the Vestavia Hills Country Club, people’s houses, and the Civic Center. While many escaped the rain, groups with outdoor pictures planned did have to run inside to avoid soggy dress clothes and hair. 

For dinner, students were spread across the town in restaurants of the Summit, Vestavia, Mountain Brook, and Homewood. The most populated of these restaurants were observed to be North Italia, the Village Tavern, and Bistro V. 

While Homecoming is usually held in the high school’s gymnasium, Sadie’s has been at the Vestavia Civic Center for the past two years. The venue features two main areas for students to mingle. There is the dance room, equipped with strobe lights and a DJ, but there is also the foyer, where students easily found friends and took pictures under brighter lighting. 

Afterparties were also spread across the town, with many taking place in Vestavia, while a few were in Liberty Park and Cahaba Heights. Many afterparties employed Valentine’s themes with pink, gold, and silver shades of decor, while others centered decorations around dress-up themes. 

But how does the Sadie Hawkins Dance set itself apart from Prom and Homecoming? One student declared the dance was even “forgettable” and “irrelevant”. Sadie Hawkins does seem to sneak up on the student body every year due to its position on the calendar right after winter break. While more pressure is placed on all aspects of Prom and Homecoming, especially plans, dresses, locations, and dates, Sadie Hawkins is equal to these dances in history and form. Sadies is not the insanity of planning that Prom is, but this allows the dance to become something else entirely. While the many school events and dances at Vestavia stress students with planning, Sadie’s allows students to let down their hair and express themselves without the spotlights present at Prom or Homecoming. Overall, it was a wonderful night of dancing, posing, eating, and enjoying ourselves.