Prom at Dexter High School does not begin in a dark gym. It begins with the Grand March, held in the school auditorium in front of a public audience large enough that the school has issued tickets for the seating. The dress gets looked at head-on, standing still, under house lights, and it turns up again in the video the school posts afterward. The high school office once sold DVDs of the march for $10 a copy. That is the event most gowns bought in this town are bought for, and The Bunny Patch, at 1 North Walnut in downtown Dexter, has been the local answer to it.
The store is formalwear only, not a boutique with a prom rack: prom, pageant and homecoming gowns, little girls’ pageant attire, shoes, jewelry, a clearance rack, and tuxedo rentals. It is a verified stockist for Jasz and Tiffany Designs. Its own online catalog listed 202 prom and pageant styles at the time of writing, priced from about $149 to $749, and also named Rachel Allan, Jovani, Alyce, Clarisse, Mon Cheri, Morilee, Dave & Johnny and Portia and Scarlett. Confirm anything specific by phone — a website catalog is not a floor count.
Tuxes come through Jim’s Formal Wear, which lists the shop as its Dexter dealer; the rental styles shown online carry Michael Kors, Ike Behar and Stephen Geoffrey labels. For a couple from the same school, that means one stop on one street instead of a second drive out of the county.
Who drives in
Dexter is the largest city in Stoddard County and functions as the retail stop for the smaller towns around it. US 60 runs through, with quick access to I-55. Approximate distances from Dexter High School to other schools whose students would shop here:
- Bloomfield — about 7 miles
- Richland, in Essex — about 8 miles
- Bernie — about 8 miles
- Malden — about 15 miles
- Puxico — about 15 miles
- Twin Rivers — about 17 miles
- Risco — about 18 miles
The nearest dedicated formalwear stores are roughly 25 miles west in Poplar Bluff, where The Grand March sits on Butler Street, and about 50 miles northeast in downtown Cape Girardeau, home of the AJ Prom Superstore. Sikeston is a similar 25 miles the other direction. For a family in Bernie or Essex, Walnut Street is a fifteen-minute drive and everything else is an afternoon.
September is not the quiet season
Pageant stock is not a sideline in this part of southeast Missouri. The Stoddard County Fair runs in Dexter each September, opening with a parade through downtown, and its queen’s contest is split into age divisions — the 2019 edition ran nine categories, with winners from Dexter, Bernie, Dudley, Essex and Wappapello. That puts fair pageant shopping and homecoming shopping in the same few weeks, before prom season arrives in the spring.
Before you go
Listings disagree on hours. The Visit Dexter directory shows 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday; the Jim’s Formal Wear dealer page shows Monday closed, 10 to 5 Tuesday through Friday, and a shorter Saturday. Call (573) 624-3032 before driving in, especially on a Monday or late on a Saturday. The store takes walk-ins and also books appointments by phone, which is the better option in March and April.