DHS Homecoming tickets sell out in a frenzy

PHOTO: More than 100 students line up outside the Finance Office on Monday to buy Homecoming tickets.

By Mattias RowenBale,

BlueDevilHUB.com Editor–

All 800 Davis High homecoming tickets sold out after only two days of sales. In a school with more than 1,800 students, this means 1,000 are unable to attend.

DHS vice-principal Chandra Wenlgler says that the decision to only sell 800 tickets was primarily based around COVID-19 guidelines.

“No matter what, [the homecoming dance] needs to be less than a thousand [people],” Wengler said. 

Any event above 1,000 attendees is considered a mega-event under COVID-19 guidelines, and would have to follow entirely different rules.

Originally, only 700 tickets were sold. Another 100 were added Monday afternoon in response to the high demand. 

Students with ASB cards had the opportunity to purchase tickets during a presale on Friday, but other than that, there was no priority purchasing. 

Tickets were sold both through the Blue Devil Online Store and in person at the Finance Office, making it more challenging to keep track of how many tickets had sold. The online store was also periodically down during Monday’s sale, adding to the confusion.

Some students stood in lines for up to an hour and a half on Monday, only to be informed tickets had already sold out. 

Kayla Flin was one of many students in line at the Finance Office after school on Monday, hoping to purchase one of the 100 additional tickets.

“It took about either 20 or 30 minutes for them to even open the finance window, so we were all just standing around, “ Flin said, “I think maybe only around like eight people were able to get tickets, and then the line stopped moving for another like 30 minutes, . . . and then they just like come out and they announce like ‘sorry the tickets are all gone.’”

Overall, Flin’s biggest complaint is not that she was unable to get tickets, but that the communication was so poor. 

Homecoming tickets selling out quickly is not a new phenomenon at DHS. The 2019 Homecoming Dance only had 600 tickets, and there was a similar state of confusion around new tickets being added and more people still wanting to go. 

“Most seniors I know sort of prepared for this already based on their sophomore year; they remember how crazy it was,” DHS senior Paige Jenness said.

Jenness also remembers people trying to sneak into the dance their sophomore year.

“I heard of someone who just had a camera around their chest, and just walked in with a camera, and the staff just let them in. No questions asked,” Jenness said. 

Jenness says she has also heard some people talking about sneaking into this year’s Homecoming Dance, but not as much as she did sophomore year. 

Students are desperate to get into homecoming, and sneaking in is not their only option. Flin says they were approached at lunch by a student willing to pay $15 for one of the $13 dollar tickets. 

Students have also been posting on Instagram asking to buy tickets from other students.

“I mostly feel bad for the seniors and couples who aren’t able to go,” Flin said.

For seniors, this is not only the last Homecoming they will get a chance to attend, but also the second they have even had the opportunity to go to. With such a high demand for tickets and the pandemic cancelling school events last year, there are some seniors who will not have gotten to attend a single homecoming dance.

“For their entire high school career [some students have] wanted to go to homecoming… and just haven’t had a chance to go, and think it’s really disappointing,” Jenness said.