Gatherings are casually formal event

Teens share simple pleasures in fancy clothes.

By MICHAEL KRUSE, Times Staff Writer
Published August 23, 2007

Cody Zambrana takes a picture of Annie Elmblad, 16, as they prepare a picnic at the Wesley Chapel District Park. Claire Elmblad and her friends are having one last fling before they head off to college -- with a picnic in a parking garage, and then mini golf, all while wearing tuxes and prom gowns.
	[Times photo: Zach Boyden-Holmes]

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Zach Boyden-Holmes] (From left) Cody Zambrana, 17, Claire Elmblad, 18, and her sister Annie Elmblad pick out sandwich meat for their evening picnic.

WESLEY CHAPEL - Claire Elmblad is friendly and thoughtful and 18 years old. She graduated summa cum laude last spring from Wesley Chapel High School and was the class salutatorian. She's leaving Friday for college at Union University in Tennessee.

One afternoon back in May, she said she thought many of her peers were "hurting," "self-conscious" and "needy," and that she saw them searching for something but not totally knowing where to look.

"I think a lot of people are searching for something to fulfill them," she said. "To feel complete."

Claire was a student rep at school last year. She won the school's math and science awards. She founded and edited the youth newspaper at Cypress Point Community Church and plays bass guitar in the worship band.

She doesn't watch much TV. She doesn't have a MySpace page or a Facebook page.

This summer Claire got ready for college, started scrapbooking and cleaned her room.

"Organized all the junk and the clutter," she said.

This past year, she started what she called Formal Attire Events.

The first one was in November.

Claire and 20 or so of her friends got all dressed up in prom gowns and tuxes and met in the parking lot between the Target and the Arby's on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

It was the day before Thanksgiving, so the roads were clogged, and the parking lot was busy, too, but in the middle of all that Claire and her friends spread some blankets on the concrete by the garden department and had a picnic.

Then they went to the New Tampa Muvico and saw Stranger Than Fiction.

The second one was in February.

They met in the same parking lot in the same formal dress. They went to Tampa to the Golden Corral for dinner and then went bowling.

The third Formal Attire Event was one evening last week. It was small.

Claire and her sister, Annie, who's 16, and their friend, Cody Zambrana, who's 17, pulled into the parking lot at the State Road 54 Publix in her white Honda a bit before 7.

It was just those three, and only "homecoming attire," Claire said: Cody was wearing black Chuck Taylors, black slacks, a black vest and a white tux shirt, and Claire had on a black dress with a red ribbon around her waist.

They walked around the aisles of the Publix and bought three apples, some turkey slices, mayo and yellow mustard and a loaf of potato bread.

They drove from the Publix past the huge mall being built called The Grove, past the Quail Run RV Park, over on curvy Old Pasco Road, and into the new Wesley Chapel District Park.

They sat at a table under a gazebo and made their sandwiches as the sun started to set.

Around them were people on swings and a bunch of Boy Scouts doing a flag drill and some sandhill cranes clucking on the nearby ball field.

A small boy on a bike with training wheels pedaled past. A woman walked by with a brown shirt that said: A LOT OF ENERGY COMING FROM EVERYWHERE.

In a place that often seems so busy, and in a world that often seems so complex, and at a time when so many seem to be searching for answers, Claire, Annie and Cody sat together to share an evening picnic in the park.

Cody, in this simple setting, said a simple prayer.

"Dear Lord," he said. "Thank you for this food. Please bless it to the nourishment of our bodies.

"Amen," Cody said.

"Amen," Annie said.

"Amen," Claire said.

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About this feature

What happens between 5 p.m. and 9 a.m. is just as important as what happens between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and actually might say more about who we are and where we live. Got an idea? Contact Michael Kruse at mkruse@sptimes.com or 813 909-4617.

[Last modified August 22, 2007, 22:30:30]