Sophomore Anne Marie Nalley and Junior Emily Williams were among a group of PHS students that got a sneak peak into what My Boom Tour and Winterfest are all about last week at Conant’s Winterfest.

After seeing Winterfest, Nalley felt like the atmosphere was really enhanced by “having more activities to do, more individuals involved, and a lot more space.”

Boom focuses a lot on student involvement which is why so much of the work of advertising, planning, and connecting is done by students. Student Council is taking charge of the event and trying to make it the best possible Winterfest for PHS.

Different Winterfests have different events. Palatine’s will include a main stage, a WipeOutstyle inflatable, an Arcade section with life size games, a photo booth, and more. The exciting thing about Winterfest is the atmosphere.

First of all, the dress code is Black Out. Beyond that, it is all up to you. Want to wear shorts and a tshirt? Go for it! Been saving that Little Black Dress for a special occasion? Well this it! Can you rock a black tux like no other? Wear it! Are sweatpants your thing? Those are great too! Arguably the best thing about WinterFest is that you can truly wear whatever you want. There will be so many people dressed up and so many people dressed down that you will fit in no matter what you choose to wear—as long as it’s black!

Williams loves the dress code because “the causal clothes make it seem like a party or rave versus a school dance. It saves the hassle of dress shopping and having to get all fancy, it’s more laid back and easier to enjoy the experience.”

Winterfest isn’t a couples’ event, so there is absolutely no pressure to find a date. If your favorite part of dances is asking someone to go with you, then you can still do that too! If you want to go with a group of friends to a fancy dinner before WinterFest then maybe looking fancy is your best bet. But ordering pizza and going to someone’s house is just as good of an option and then you can dress more casually or still dress up if you want.

MyBoomTour was started in 2000 by Jordan Neuhauser with a simple purpose. Neuhauser was only in high school at the time, but after attending his first school dance, Jordan realized it was not an event for everyone, and that it was only really fun for certain types of people.

He also thought about how high school students can’t go to other events like festivals that have the atmosphere dances are sometimes lacking, where you aren’t at only a main stage the whole night, but you can go around to different stages and different events. Thus, Boom was born with Neuhauser’s goal of creating an event where students could come together and enjoy a dance that is so much more than a dance.

Winterfest is just over three weeks away and it is the perfect thing to look forward to between now and spring break.

Tickets are $20 on Feb 18 and 19, $25 after that and $30 at the door.