Every year for time out of mind, Ridgefield throws a post-graduation party for its graduating seniors. The party is held at the recreation center, which includes a pool and basketball gymnasium. One year the event included a velcro wall. Another year students donned sumo wrestling suits and wrestled.
The night is designed to keep young drivers in a celebratory mood off the roads and out from behind the wheel of a car. It happens Friday night.
"Every year, and I don't know for how long, at least 20 years, they take over the whole Park and Rec for the entire night," said Barbara Carvalho, supervisor of the entrance to the Ridgefield Rec Center. "My daughter is 35 now and she did it."
The night starts at 10 a.m. once the rec center closes. Students, parents and other volunteers take over the building, set up their games and food, and party until cleaning it up and turning it back into the rec center Saturday morning.
"Every year it's like a well-oiled machine. People arrive in shifts, they have a whole schedule," Carvalho said.
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