This year’s 104th annual Fancy Dress ball was a magical night for the Washington and Lee community.

On Saturday, March 26, students and faculty dressed up in their black tie attire and headed to the Doremus Center for ‘A Night of Wonders.’

The students entered the gym on a red carpet through a tiger’s open mouth. Inside, the gym was decorated with colorful streamers and bright flashing lights in the effort to truly take students to another world.

Right On Band performed in the big gym for the second time in the past three years. Their Motown, Disco, and ‘70s Funk style of music had the W&L community dancing until one in the morning.

“I really loved the band,” said sophomore Susan Haysom. “And it was really cool to see what the gym could be turned into. You could tell a lot of hard work went into it.”

The Fancy Dress Committee, consisting of about 60 students, has been preparing for this event since September 29.

“We went through the first few meetings organizing potential themes and voting on a large list of them,” said Fundraising Chair Junior Antoinette Kitch. After deciding on a theme, the committee brainstormed on slogans, decorations, and the basic idea of how FD would look. “Then by January, we were all in our specific committees working on the details of that committee,” said Kitch.

The FD Committee is broken off into different sub-committees, including Entertainment, Publicity, Invitations, and Fundraising, among others. This year, Senior Katie Geddes and Junior Joseph Doyle headed the FD Committee as co-chairs.

“I just really wanted to be a part of this tradition that the university has upheld for so many years,” said Geddes.

Geddes has been co-chair for the past three years, an “anomaly” because most sophomores don’t receive the position, she said. Through her time involved with FD, she has really focused on making some positive changes for the event. For example, this is the first year FD has gone green.

“Everything has gone completely paperless,” Geddes said. “The playbill just isn’t as important as it used to be to people. No one wanted to buy it and no one read it. So we figured, we have this website, why not tap into more social media and use it.”

Invitations also went online, costing the Committee $40 for a link instead what used to be $800 in printing fees.

“We took that money we saved and used it to lower ticket prices, which are usually much higher,” said Geddes. “The online invitations also reached so many more people. I think this year more staff and faculty attended than any other.”

FD also utilized a new Vendini Ticket System for their ticket software program. Vendini is more high tech and provides more accurate numbers on who will purchase what.

“We wanted to streamline our efforts,” said Geddes. “With Vendini, we had a more specific number to use when ordering memorabilia and ended up saving money.”

But ticket prices are still high, an obstacle that keeps some students and faculty from attending the event. This year, a package for two was $130.

Kitch said the Fundraising Committee is looking into lowering prices even more in the future.

“Even though everyone who did buy a ticket this year would probably say they got their money’s worth, it is still really pricey for college students,” said Kitch.

Geddes’ goal for next year’s committee would be to get the entire package down to $100.

“But at the same time, it is an expensive event for FD to put on and that’s why prices are so high,” she said.

The main reason Geddes wants to lower ticket prices is to give everyone at W&L the opportunity to attend Fancy Dress, one of the longest-standing traditions at this school.

“It was started over 100 years ago,” said Geddes. “I think it’s really important to keep our traditions alive, but at the same time making sure they’re compatible with the students here and the current time we’re in.”

Her co-chair, Junior Joseph Doyle, agrees that Fancy Dress is a tradition unique to the W&L community that everyone should take advantage of.

“I feel like it’s something that is hard to describe to people at other schools,” said Doyle. “It’s like Mock Con in the sense that no one else can seem to do it like W&L can.”

Both Doyle and Geddes said that this year was probably their favorite Fancy Dress. It was a stressful process, but all their hard effort came together nicely in the end, said Geddes.

“My favorite part about being co-chair is the night of the dance and just seeing everyone smiling, everyone dancing, and everyone having a great time,” said Geddes. “Nothing makes it so worthwhile.”