The Winter Ball, a popular and awaited school dance, was updated this year with a venue change to the Sheraton Framingham Hotel & Conference Center in Framingham Mass.
As a result of increased pricing surrounding everything from venues to food, the Student Council decided to move the Winter Ball this year. The new venue, the Sheraton Framingham Hotel & Conference Center, which replaced the event’s previous home of the DCU Center in Worcester Mass, lived up to high expectations, especially when it came to convenience.
The decision to move back to the Sheraton was years in the making, but once the Student Council started looking, the Sheraton was a clear choice and was even booked last spring.
“We looked at other places, but we did kind of narrow it down to the Sheraton pretty quickly,” senior and Student Council president Lily Dumont said. “Last spring we went and toured it and talked to the person who would be running our event. We really liked her, and we really liked the facility itself, so we made the decision to switch pretty quickly.”
The main reason for the venue change this year was the increasing cost of the DCU Center.
“The DCU Center has gotten even more expensive,” Dumont said. “I assume due to inflation and maybe [the] popularity of the place. We also have not always been satisfied with the service the DCU provided us.”
Ticket sales pay for most of the Winter Ball’s cost, but staying at the DCU Center was beginning to get too expensive. By changing to the Sheraton, the Student Council was able to make the already high ticket price slightly lower.
“It is a very hefty price,” Dumont said. “You pay for the event itself, the venue, we have to have police detail, we have to pay for food and drinks and all this stuff, so it is paying for a lot of things.”
Another big factor that went into changing the venue was the service and willingness to accommodate students. The DCU Center stopped being as personalized, and more obstacles began to emerge.
“[The DCU’s] accommodations are not always the most accommodating to students,” Dumont said. “It’s hard to get to, it’s in Worcester and parking isn’t free.”
Junior Noor Aqad shared how the location of the Sheraton was much easier to access, preferring it significantly to the DCU Center.
“I think that not being in Worcester was a big plus because it’s kind of scary to drive in Worcester at night,” Aqad said. “I really liked being in Framingham. It was easier to drive to.”
The DCU Center food options were also becoming harder to personalize, and the constant debate of whether to have a full meal at Winter Ball remained an important factor.
“The food has always been complicated [depending] on what package they make us buy,” Dumont said. “Whether you have to buy a full package and it’s even more expensive or whether you get absolutely nothing.”
This year, the choice was to only have a dessert bar because adding a full meal would have significantly increased the ticket price. This was much easier to arrange at the Sheraton.
“After going through all of [the options,] we decided, and we looked at pricing too, we decided it’s not a sit down dance because of the amount of people going, the timing and just that the price of the ticket would even go higher with that,” Dumont said.
Aqad said she enjoyed the dessert bar and wasn’t disappointed with the switch.
“The desserts were fire,” Aqad said. “They were really good. And I never even ate the food before [this year] so I didn’t care.”
In addition to all of the other benefits, the aesthetic of the Sheraton also adds to its charm as it is often compared to a castle.
“When I go to the mall I always drive past it, and I am like ‘Oh my gosh, it’s so cool, it looks like a castle,’” Dumont said. “Throughout the student council, everyone’s very excited to see this new place.”
In addition to the venue itself, the DJ is a crucial part of making Winter Ball a fun, positive and lively night. There are multiple different opinions about whether this year’s DJ accomplished that task.
Sophomore Kali Mahar thought that the DJ could have chosen better songs.
“He isn’t playing good music, he’s playing the songs too long and he won’t stop talking,” Mahar said.
However, English teacher Emily Philbin thought that the DJ read the room well and adjusted to the energy of the crowd.
“But it did seem [that] if people started clearing off, he kind of switched up the songs,” Philbin said. “I think he was reacting to the crowd pretty well.”
Social Studies teacher Kerriann Lessard thinks that this year’s Winter Ball went very well and produced a lot of dancing.
“I said at the dance I thought it was the most danced dance in a while,” Lessard said. “I thought the vibes were good, people had fun and enjoyed it.”
This new venue is a breath of fresh air, and Dumont has high hopes for it in the future.
Despite the venue or other little choices, the Winter Ball continues to be a high-demand event that brings together the school before the long awaited winter break.
“I like that it’s all the grades,” Philbin said. “I think that’s fun because it’s one of the only things we have where everyone can go. So it was nice to see all my students dressed up.”
