HERMISTON — Due to continuing health and safety concerns related to the COVID pandemic, the Me and My Prince Ball Committee has decided to further postpone the 16th community father-daughter dance until May 2022.

“Even in a best-case scenario where everyone was to be able to get vaccinated within a few of months, it still wouldn’t give the committee enough time to raise funds and make preparations,” explained Michelle Kane, a member of the ball committee, in a press release. “Postponing the event again was a hard decision to make, but our volunteers simply do not have enough time to pull everything together so close to the event date.”

The Me and My Prince Ball will be hosted by the United Way of the Blue Mountains, a partnership that the ball and the organization established following the last dance in 2019.

“After careful consideration regarding the health, safety, and financial impact on our community over the COVID-19 virus, we feel this is the best way to proceed in the midst of such an unprecedented global situation. We are heartbroken that we must postpone this event, but we know it’s the right decision based on the information we have today,” Christy Lieuallen, executive director of United Way of the Blue Mountains, said in the release.

The event was scheduled to be held on May 15, 2021, but ball organizers concluded that postponing the event a second time was in the best interest of both the guests who attend the dance and the businesses that support it.

The ball will be held May 21, 2022, at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center in Hermiston from 6 to 9 p.m. The theme will still be “Tale as Old as Time,” which is inspired by Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.”

The Me and My Prince Ball is a community event with the purpose of promoting healthy girl and male role model relationships by helping to strengthen the bonds between girls of all ages their fathers or other male role models.

For more information about becoming a sponsor of the Me and My Prince Ball or questions about the United Way, contact Lieuallen at 541-276-2661. For general information about the ball, contact Kane at 541-564-5985.