By Uy Pham
Assistant Principal of Activities and Athletics Hayato Yuuki has confirmed that the venue for this year’s Homecoming Dance will be changed from Soka University to the Turnip Rose Promenade in Costa Mesa. In a message sent out via 5-Star and Parent Square on Wednesday afternoon, Yuuki cited unforeseen circumstances as the reason for the change.
“Please be assured, this is just as beautiful a venue as Soka University,” Yuuki wrote in the announcement.
Despite the venue change, the details of the dance are to remain the same, including date and time. Currently, the dance is scheduled from 7 to 10 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 5. All vendors, events and tickets sales will continue as previously scheduled, per Yuuki.
On Thursday, Principal Paul Lopez confirmed that the reason for the venue change was due to last minute “unreasonable” security requests from Soka University. FVHS was not aware of these requests until approximately Wednesday at noon, per Lopez.
“It’s our understanding from All Star, the company that runs our events, that Soka [Unversity] told them about additional security requests that would have required us to put more chaperones out there,” Lopez said. “This would be more [chaperones] than we could ever get, way more than I’ve ever been aware of in my entire career.”
If FVHS did not meet the requests from Soka University, Lopez confirms that the dance would have been shut down and FVHS would be turned away from the dance.
Per Lopez, there are no additional fees for the dance at Turnip Rose Promenade compared to Soka University.
“Sometimes, things are out of our control, and we pivot to do what’s best for our kids and going somewhere that ends up being closer to Fountain Valley High School, and is as just as nice as a venue,” Lopez said. “We were actually lucky because that venue was usually taken every weekend, so we pivoted and found the best place possible for the student body.”
According to Lopez, refunds will be given on a case-by-case basis but “highly discouraged.”
“We’ll deal with them on a case by case basis because in order to get all the services that we want, we have to keep our numbers high,” Lopez said.
According to the new venue’s website, the Turnip Rose Promenade offers a spacious grand park, rose garden, reception space, foyer and ballroom.
This is a developing story. Baron Banner will update this page with updates as we receive them.
Baron Banner updated this story on Oct. 3 at 8:16 a.m. to provide details from Lopez about the reasons for the venue change. We also updated the picture for this article.
Baron Banner updated this story on Oct. 3 at 9:26 a.m. to clarify that if the requests were not met, FVHS would have been turned away on the night of the dance.
