Gown princesses

The black dress with a pink-and-white checked top that Hannah Nelson plucked from the rack passed the intuition test.

“You just know,” Nelson, a Union High School senior, said of finding the perfect dress.

So, as she changed into the gown in a freshly-constructed dressing room set up in an empty department-store-turned-gown-warehouse, only one question remained: Would it twirl?

“That’s my daughter,” said Tracey Nelson, reveling in the opportunity to spend time with Hannah during the Saturday shopping outing. “If it spins, it works.”

And it spun.

“It’s perfect,” said Hannah, beaming.

The mother-daughter duo’s hunt for Hannah’s dress was one of hundreds — possibly a thousand — searches that took place Saturday during the Vancouver School District Foundation’s seventh annual Operation Fairy Godmother. The one-day gown distribution event is designed to provide Southwest Washington high school students an affordable dress in advance of prom season.

The first shopper in line for a turn to look through a closet fit for a busload of Cinderellas arrived at 4 a.m., said Gini Jones, a program assistant with the Vancouver School District Foundation. The doors opened at 10 a.m.

Hannah Nelson, the 213th shopper to gain access to more than 2,200 gowns, had four dresses draped across her arms shortly after 11 a.m. She said she wanted to find something elegant and “princessy.”

She tried on a navy blue gown, but the mission-accomplished pronouncement didn’t come until she sprang out of the dressing room and completed a pirouette in the black and pink dress with the lacy skirt, which she said “fit like a glove.”

“It gives all the girls an opportunity to have a princess dress without spending $400,” Hannah said of the event. “Everybody gets to be Cinderella.”

Girls who donated a dress — including Nelson — got to pick a new one for free. Dresses were just $10 for shoppers who didn’t participate in the exchange.

Kierstin Schell, who has four teenage daughters, has attended every incarnation of Operation Fairy Godmother. “This year was the best,” Schell said, walking out with her daughter Jackie, a Columbia River High School sophomore.

Jackie Schell said she loved an embroidered appliqué offset to the right of the brownish dress she selected. “And the feel of it,” she said. “Absolutely.”

If a gown wasn’t a perfect fit, about a dozen volunteers sat behind sewing machines at an alterations center.

And the activities didn’t end even with finding a dress and ensuring it fit.

Professional hair stylists and makeup artists were on hand to do free consultations and prepare girls for glamour shots in their new dresses.

“Realize, there’s no prom tonight, but they’re getting their hair done,” Jones said, pointing to a row of chairs filled with girls and backed by stylists. “You wouldn’t get that shopping. We tried to create an experience.”

Again, mission accomplished.

“We came with smiles, and we’ll leave with smiles,” Tracey Nelson said.

Bob Albrecht: 360-735-4522 or bob.albrecht@columbian.com.