While the older folks will be playing games and partying it up at The Hall on Dragon for Dallas CASA’s CASAblanca, more than 2,000 high schoolers from 35 area schools will be holding forth at Gilley’s Dallas on Saturday, February 4. The occasion will be the 65th annual Junior Symphony Ball’s “A Purpose With A Party” to raise funds for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra League’s support of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
With a steering committee of 500, 2023 Co-Chairs Will Searcy (The Episcopal School of Dallas), Mary Ellen Schoellkopf (Highland Park High School), Sydney Hoyl (The Hockaday School), Dylan Gibbons (Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas), Alexa Plumlee (Parish Episcopal School), Bowden Slates (St. Mark’s of Texas) and Alexandra Paredes (Ursuline Academy of Dallas) have arranged for a night of professionally staffed gaming tables, raffles, prizes, refreshments and dancing to live music featuring Drake Milligan and DJ Soujah.
The annual “student-led, parent-guided” event is strictly G-rated when it comes to alcoholic beverages. None are served and none are allowed to be brought in.
The doors open at 7:30 p.m. and no one will be admitted after 8:30 p.m.
This year’s collection of participating schools includes Alcuin School, Bishop Lynch High School, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, The Cambridge School of Dallas, Cistercian Preparatory School, Dallas International School, The Episcopal School of Dallas, Greenhill School, Highland Park High School, Hillcrest High School, The Hockaday School, Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas, John Paul II High School, Lake Highlands High School, Parish Episcopal School, Prince of Peace Christian School, Shelton, St. Mark’s of Texas, Ursuline Academy of Dallas and Woodrow Wilson High School.
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra League’s longest running fundraising program, the JSB has its proceeds support the “Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s community outreach and education programs, including Young Strings and Young Musicians that will benefit over 14,000 students, making a positive impact for under-served youth in Dallas and throughout North Texas.”
Event sponsors include Trive Capital, Luke’s Fastbreaks, Stonelake Capital, Platinum Homes by Mark Molthan, Sewell, Ben E. Keith Company, Hilltop Holdings, Highland Park Village, Gilley’s Dallas, Mister Tuxedo and Haynsworth Classic American Portraiture.
Tickets are starting at $125. But there’s still room to join the steering committee for $385.
* Photo credit: Haynsworth Photography ** Graphic provided by Junior Symphony Ball