Cinderella had a fairy godmother to help her get ready for the ball. But for the girls planning to attend the Viennese Ball, their fairy godmother will be the UW-Eau Claire’s Viennese Ball gown sale held 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. March 5 and 6 in the Dakota Ballroom of Davies Center.
The Viennese Ball, which will be held on April 12 and 13, is a formal event modeled after the nineteenth century Austrian New Year’s Eve Kaiser Ball. Ladies dress in gowns for the event and the gown sale will provide a large selection of popular gown styles to choose from.
The featured gowns are from Marry-Go-Round Occasions of Strum. The dresses are valued up to $600 but will be priced between $59 and $99 at the sale.
Linda Baxa, owner of Marry-Go-Round, said all the dresses at the sale have never been worn before; they are overstock dresses. She said she is happy to help V-Ball goers find a dress for the event and at an extremely discounted price.
“Everyone should be able to afford a new dress for the ball because we just believe in the event,” Baxa said.
For every dress sold, Marry-Go-Round donates $5 to the Viennese Ball fund, she said.
Karen Stuber, executive director of the Viennese Ball, said the sale has been available to students for about 15 years now.
“It’s just an opportunity for the business to be able to sell some of the gowns that they have in their shops for display,” Stuber said. “But it’s also an opportunity for the students to be able to buy the gowns at a great discount.”
This year will be junior Hillary Crusan’s second year attending the Viennese Ball. Crusan said the gown sale is a great idea because there are many people on campus who go to the event, but there are few places for them to find a dress.
Carly Cody, a senior English education major, will be attending the sale to see what is available even though she already has a dress for the Viennese Ball. She said the sale is a great way to allow students to wear what they want to the ball while still feeling okay with how much they spent.
“A lot of us either don’t have our prom dresses anymore or they don’t fit—and most of us can’t afford to buy decent groceries, let alone a retail-priced prom dress,” Cody said.
Although the sale is a great way for students to find a dress for the ball, Cody said she doesn’t know when she would wear her dress again and thinks it would be even better if the dresses could be rentals.
