Holmen High School’s all night post-graduation party started 15 years ago with a $35 budget. “Basically,” said Cherie Knudtson, “it was just parents who built things.”

The idea was to have a place for new graduates to go and have “safe” fun so they wouldn’t tempt tragedy by going out in search of more dangerous fun, such as drinking and driving.

The mission of the World Tour, as the party is called, hasn’t changed, but its methods have. Those “parents who built things” in the beginning made things like a canoe grads could sit in and “fish” for prizes.

“That just wouldn’t work anymore,” said Knudtson, who this year was in charge of games and decorations and next year will co-chair the event with her husband, Mike.

This year, the 180 graduates who attended World Tour could play popular video games such as Guitar Hero, Rock Band and Dance Dance Revolution or sing karaoke, all thanks to Best Buy. Not only did Best Buy donate the use of the games, game systems and TV monitors, it also sent seven volunteers to set them up and run them.

Stansfield Vending set up a racing game and the Big Event Co. came with three inflatables — Joust, Iron Man and Bungee Run — as well as casino games and the Cash Cube. Twelve lucky graduates got a chance to go inside the Cash Cube and try to grab as much cash and McDonald’s coupons as they could in 30 seconds while the paper swirled around them.

Gym teacher Paul Berge came in from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. to run a gymball tournament, a game he invented that is kind of a cross between dodgeball and kickball.

On top of all that, there was free food all night from T-Jo’s Pizza, Kwik Trip, Festival Foods, Reinhart Foods and Panera, about $6,000 in prizes, including a $10 gas card for each graduate, courtesy of Bill and Julie Yahnke of Olympic Builders.

“We tried to make sure everyone walked out with something,” Knudtson said.

While safety was a big factor in establishing World Tour, it’s more than a daycare for big kids. A lot more. It’s really one last chance for the graduates to be together with their classmates, Knudtson said, without caps and gowns, without final exam worries, totally relaxed.

“It was wonderful. It really brought the kids up,” Knudtson said. “We try to keep the kids moving all night long with different activities.”

As many as 100 parents helped in the setting up, running and cleaning up after the event, as did a fraternity from UW-La Crosse that had some HHS grads as members. Work starts on setting up World Tour on Friday afternoon and goes far into the night. The volunteers come back starting at 7 p.m., most working in shifts, and they don’t get done until 5 a.m. Sunday. And then there’s the cleanup.

“It’s a long few days. That’s why my graduation party is in August,” Knudtson said. “It’s a lot of work but I definitely enjoy it.”

While there are hundreds of volunteers the night of the event, there’s only a small core group of parents who work for six months to pull everything together. In addition to the Knudtsons, this year there was event chair Kathy Reinolt, Bob Netwal, JoAnne Ward, Kelly Sullivan, Sue Schroeder, Barb Quamme and Diane and Steve Gunderson.

The volunteers organize fundraisers such as bake sales, brat sales and chickencues and they solicit donations from businesses in the community. This year, Knudtson said they’re looking at trying something different and doing an aluminum can collection drive in conjunction with school registration.

Knudtson said she has found it very rewarding, and she knows the kids whose parents work so hard to put on the World Tour are always very proud of their parents for putting such effort into the party. Parents interested in getting involved in organizing next year’s World Tour — there’s always room for more — can call Knudtson at 526-6649.

Contact Randy Erickson at randy.erickson@lee.net or (608) 786-6812.