Story of an Eiffel Tower

The SBOs wanted a Midnight in Paris theme for Prom and because they were disappointed we had to have Prom at school instead of a fancy venue (I reminded them many times that people pay tens of thousands of dollars to get married at Mercy), I promised them we could spend a little extra money on decor. We ordered a $300 17ft Eiffel Tower kit made of cardboard. It has 55 steps to build and it took all week. 
This was Monday. It took an entire free period and lunch to create the square base.

Here is the progress on Wednesday, pieces were cut and folded where needed. 

Here we are on Thursday at lunch, with the base firmly in place. After this period, I suggested that they pull the base pillars into a sheltered area so it didn’t get wind blown at night, and then I could put the last few pieces together on Friday before the dance. The Juniors and Seniors were learning from home on Friday as a gift from Admin, so by Thursday afternoon, they were done with their contribution. 

Side note- it had been 80 degrees in Burlingame on Monday and Tuesday, 70ish on Thursday, and then Friday the weather totally changed. 

On Friday when I arrived at school around 11am, hours before Prom, the base had completely blown over and was not in the sheltered area. The fog was wet and cold, and the weather was not helping the tower!

So I did what I know how to do in an emergency, and I called my dad for back up. He brought support stakes, tools, and two ladders to save the day. 
Dad helped me screw the wooden stakes into place, and the base was standing again with the help of four chairs. We were about to crown the top, when Julia and Kelsey walked out to see how Prom was coming along. It was perfect timing because there was no way Dad and I could have lifted the 10ft tower top, on the the 7ft base alone. 

So with three ladders in action, we put the final top on the tower and screwed it in!

It looked great!!! We used fishing line to secure it to the stairs and started to clean up a job well done. 

And then a huge gust of Burlingame hill wind blew so hard that the weights holding down the staked base that the tower collapsed!!!! Our maintenance crew happened to be on the patio setting up tables and chairs for Prom, so they ran over and helped us rescue the top part. 

To be safe, we moved the top of the Eiffel Tower into the Great Hall, out of the wind. It was still cool for photos, but not nearly as impressive as we had hoped. Good thing was none of the guests knew and they happily took photos with the tower. 

Thanks to Dad and everyone who helped with this endeavor. What a rollercoaster! Covid Prom was a success, the students were beautiful in their dresses and tuxedos with masks. 

Today I have been laying in bed all day recovering. Staying up til midnight is hard for me these days!