This year, the winter formal will take place at Abe and Jake’s, located on 8 E. 6th St.

In the past, the formal has been held in the rotunda at Lawrence High, but last year, it was at the Lied Center. Due to turnout, Student Council decided at the end of last year that the formal needed to be held somewhere with more space.

“We just thought it would be exciting to change the location, and we thought it would bring in some more students and bring the attendance up,” student council member Vera Petrovic said. “We organized it at the end of last school year. We booked the venue, but right before winter break, we went and met one of the employees, took a tour of the building, and it was really nice.”

Student Council still plans on utilizing the Lied Center.

“The Lied Center was a little small for such a big dance, so we are going to do Abe & Jake’s for formal, and we’re going to do the Lied Center for prom,” Petrovic said.

Junior Bryce Smith said the reason for this is that “it’s more like a free-for-all and fun dance, and prom is more of like a sophisticated, kind of delicate dance, and it’s more elegant. Formal, it’s more like a gym dance where you kind of dress up and you play loud rap music, and it’s really fun.”

According to Petrovic, Student Council plans to continue with off-campus dances.

“It’s just kind of a year-by-year decision to the future student councils where they want to have the dance,” she said.