This Oklahoma town inspired the classic film 'Footloose.' Forty years later, it's still dancing
ELMORE CITY — Hundreds of people filled the stands at Elmore City-Pernell High School's Royce Teakell Gym on a recent Friday night, not to watch the students play a game but to see local teenagers engage in a different sort of school tradition.
Dressed for Junior/Senior Prom in snazzy suits and shimmering gowns, the high-schoolers circled the gym primarily in pairs. Minding the girls' long dresses, couples carefully stepped onto four strategically placed platforms, posing for photographs as the crowd clapped and cheered.
The annual promenade in the gym gives family, friends and neighbors the chance to see the teens decked out in their finery before the students load the buses to head off to the actual prom.
"Everybody turns out for it. It's a big event for the kids to be able to get dressed up and get to parade around and get to enjoy the evening," said Superintendent Sheila Riddle, who attended this year's promenade on April 12 not only in her official capacity, but also because she had a daughter among the prom participants.
Riddle said the students fundraise to get the venue for their "typical small-town prom." She said students will have a meal when they get there, then they have the dance floor for the evening. After that, they load up buses and head to an after-prom and usually keep them there until 3 or 4 in the morning before going back home.
Since the sense of excitement and goodwill was as evident as the sequins and corsages at the April 12 promenade, it's safe to say that local attitudes about the prom have changed considerably over the past four decades in the small Oklahoma town, where organizing the school's first prom brought community controversy, national media attention and, eventually, a cinematic legacy.
"It was so volatile in the community. ... And we just wanted to dance and to have a real prom," recalled Mary Ann Temple, a 1981 Elmore City graduate who helped lead the campaign to organize the school's first prom.
"So, to see the way they do it now is wonderful, absolutely wonderful. ... It's a dream come true."
The polarizing planning for Elmore City's first prom in 1980 was the inspiration for the enduringly popular 1984 movie "Footloose," which was released in theaters 40 years ago this year. The Garvin County community will celebrate its Hollywood history Saturday, April 20 at its annual Footloose Festival, which draws thousands of people every spring to the town of fewer than 750 residents.
"It is the biggest event that happens in the community," said Elmore City Chamber of Commerce President Joni Oller. "We do have a lot of visitors. It's shocking every year how many come into town for it."
How did a group of Oklahoma students challenge their town's no-dancing law to plan their school's first prom?
Now 60 years old, Temple, a lifelong Elmore City resident, said she's become accustomed to having a mission she embarked on as a small-town 16-year-old play a starring role in her life.
"I would honestly say there's not a month that goes by that I don't have at least one interview," she said. "Of course, it's not the same doing them without Leonard ... but I always mention him."
In 1980, Temple and classmate Leonard Coffee, who died in 2021 at the age of 57, were sweethearts and junior class officers, the group who spearheaded the student movement to organize a real prom. They wanted to upgrade the yearly junior/senior banquet, which typically involved just decorating the school cafeteria, sharing a meal and then participating in a class activity, usually renting the bowling alley in nearby Lindsay.
"I asked, ‘Well, why can’t we have a prom like other schools do?’ And it went like wildfire. Right after I asked that question, the rest of the class was, like, ‘Yeah, we want to do that,’” Coffee told The Oklahoman in a 2010 interview.
What he didn't realize then was that Elmore City had a law prohibiting public dancing.
"Elmore City would close the cafeteria down for the entire week, and the kids would eat sack lunches so the juniors could have the whole week to decorate and transform that cafeteria into the oasis of the theme. ... But it was heartbreaking. We would raise maybe $10,000 to decorate — and that was a lot of money back then — to put in decorations for an hour, just for (everybody) to leave and go drink," Temple recalled.
How did Elmore City students win the fight to organize their first prom?
The town, which was founded by James Elmore in the 1860s, outlawed dancing from the time it was incorporated in 1898 until 1980, said former City Clerk Lisa Rollings.
Some local churches and residents staunchly opposed the prom proposal on religious grounds, believing dancing was immoral. The opposition was fierce, and, initially, it seemed they had the law on their side. But Rollings recalled that her father, Red Travis, who was mayor at the time, saw it differently.
"My dad said, 'This isn't a public event. It's a private junior/senior banquet by the school. ... This doesn't have anything to do with the law,'" Rollings said.
That meant the decision to have a prom with dancing instead of just a banquet was entirely in the hands of the school board. Temple's father, Raymond Temple, was school board president at the time, and he cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of having a prom.
It was the safety concerns that swayed him: Many of the students left the banquet and never made it to the Lindsay bowling alley, opting instead to go out drinking and driving in the nearby Table Top Mountains.
"He was a guest at the prom ... and I was so proud of him. To be able to get out on the dance floor and have a dance with my dad was iconic. I just loved it. And, of course, I loved dancing with Leonard," Mary Ann Temple recalled, noting that her parents still live on their Elmore City ranch.
"But we had so much pressure on us. ... We had to show that the prom was a good, positive thing. It was showing that kids can have a level head, kids can be calm, kids can do the right thing."
How did Elmore City's first prom go on to inspire a Hollywood hit?
Although some residents still opposed the prom, the school board's decision stood. The students not only decorated the cafeteria for prom, but they also organized the gym into a game room as an alternative for teens who didn’t want to dance.
Picked as one of the sophomores to serve the meal, Rollings said students were slow to take to the dance floor.
"I was so excited about serving, because we got to stay for the dance. ... Nobody wanted to eat, because we were all just so excited to get to the prom part," she said. "But everybody started out still awkward and shy. They played 'Stairway to Heaven' as the first song, because that was the theme of the prom. But that's not a song you can even really dance to."
It was the 1950s dance the bunny hop that finally got a large number of students on the dance floor, Temple said.
"It was just a very few of us that knew how to dance. ... But they didn't have to do anything but follow the chain, so it gave people confidence," she recalled. "We were all like Willard from the movie. ... We were just out there doing it and having fun. That's what it was all about."
The television cameras, photographers and journalists from across the country encircling the dance floor undoubtedly contributed to their nervousness. By the time the students had picked their prom attire, the small-town controversy had become a big news story. Not only did People magazine chronicle the first prom, but the dance even made the front page in China.
Fresh off co-writing the Oscar-winning theme for the movie "Fame," Dean Pitchford read the news and thought it might make a good film. The 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee traveled to Elmore City to research it and ultimately penned not only the screenplay but also the lyrics to every song on what would become the smash soundtrack.
The 1984 film starred Kevin Bacon in his breakout role of Ren McCormack, a Chicago teen who moves with his mother to the small town of Bomont and struggles to adapt. He befriends a local cowboy named Willard (the late Chris Penn), falls for the wild-child daughter (Lori Singer) of the strict local minister (John Lithgow) and tries to overturn the local law against dancing.
"It’s an incredible movie. It just didn’t portray us the way we were. I’ll put it that way,” Temple said. "We were extremely ornery, but no, we were not wild.”
How has 'Footloose' and the first prom turned Elmore City into a dance destination?
Nominated for two best original song Oscars, "Footloose" proved a box-office hit that inspired a Tony-nominated 1998 Broadway musical and a 2011 cinematic remake featuring Oklahoma country music superstar Blake Shelton's rendition of the iconic theme first recorded by Kenny Loggins.
For the 40th anniversary of "Footloose," Paramount Home Entertainment released in February a new 4K Blu-ray release, and Bacon recently accepted an invitation to attend this year's prom at the Payson, Utah, high school where the movie was filmed.
In Elmore City, locals cut "Footloose,” with a public celebration of the 30th anniversary of the first prom in 2010. That spun off into the annual Footloose Fest, which takes place on Main Street the third Saturday in April.
"Mysteriously, the law against dancing, that was in the 1980 ordinance book, and then by '84, when they recodified, that just kind of disappeared off the books," Rollings said.
"So, they've continued to have a prom since 1980. But it took us 30 years to actually take it to the streets."
The Footloose Fest includes a car show, numerous vendors and lawn mower races, but it mostly centers on dance, from an array of contests to the street dance that caps the event.
"I won last year in the electric slide contest," Rolling said, showing off the key chain that was her prize. "This was the most exciting thing that's probably ever happened in this town ... so we wanted to do something to celebrate 'Footloose.'"
Back at promenade, Superintendent Riddle said Bacon has an open invitation to attend any future Elmore City-Pernell Junior/Senior Prom. She could guarantee that "Footloose" would be on the playlist.
"Every single year, they will play that song, and the kids will enjoy that and dance along with it."
FOOTLOOSE FESTIVAL
When: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. April 20.
Where: Main Street, Elmore City.
Information: Search for Footloose Fest on Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How Elmore City, the inspiration for 'Footloose,' celebrates 40 years
