The Cape Elizabeth High School prom, in jeopardy when Portland club The Pavilion shut its doors last week, will go on as planned – in a different location.

The Nonantum Resort in Kennebunk offered to waive the facility fee and even kick in an unlimited supply of soda for parties stranded by The Pavilion. Cape Elizabeth High School has taken the resort up on its offer and will be holding the May 12 prom there.

Principal Jeff Shedd said he is concerned about transportation to the event because the venue is farther away from Cape Elizabeth than The Pavilion was. He said the school would probably arrange for a bus to shuttle the students who planned on driving themselves to the prom.

“It’s the best possible solution,” Shedd said of the prom’s relocation.

Support from the community came as event planners scrambled to find new locations to hold weddings, bar mitzvahs, fundraisers, and proms that had been scheduled at the Old Port nightclub and banquet facility. Thornton Academy in Saco, another school that had planned to hold its prom at The Pavilion, has made arrangements to hold the school’s dance at the Portland Club. Sanford High School had to move its Project Graduation – an alcohol free event at the end of the year – to the Gold Room in Portland.

Many event organizers said attempts to contact the management at The Pavilion were to no avail, and that deposits were not being returned.

According to paperwork filed with the city of Portland, The Pavilion is owned by a company called First Class Enterprises with Lisa Oldakowski named as president and attorney Peter Edmands as secretary. Edmands did not return calls from The Current and Oldakowski directed calls to her lawyer, John Turcotte, who would only say that Oldakowski was surprised to hear that The Pavilion was closing.

Camp Ketcha, on Black Point Road in Scarborough, has offered to waive security deposits for those who lost theirs to The Pavilion and would like to hold the event at its facility. According to Tom Doherty, executive director, Camp Ketcha’s generosity stems from its own tragic past.

“We remember institutionally losing everything,” Doherty said of a 1999 fire that destroyed the camp’s main building.

“As a result we got a gorgeous building,” he said.

The year-round banquet hall and adjacent conference room that were built in 2000 can hold more than 300 people – and could be just the place some parties are looking for.

Alan Atkins, a Cape Elizabeth attorney and the father of Cape Elizabeth High School senior Emily Atkins, has offered his services at no charge to the senior class to help see to the return of the $2,500 deposit from The Pavilion.

Since last Friday, the Office of the Maine Attorney General has received six complaints regarding The Pavilion. The office’s Consumer Mediation Program has begun the process of working out a solution, according to David Loughran, spokesman for the office. He was optimistic deposits will be returned.

“We have a pretty good track record of being successful,” he said.

After the Portland club The Pavilion closed, Cape Elizabeth was one of several high schools that had to move events. The Maine Attorney General’s Office is now working to get security deposits back for the schools.

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