LGBTQ+ and alternative residents of San Marcos united at the city’s first Alt Prom, forming new friendships and expressing themselves in monochromatic style at Industry on June 7.
Local restaurant and sports bar Industry provided a space for the first-ever San Marcos Alt Prom. The event was created by Triple Six Social in collaboration with the San Marcos Queer Council (SMTXQC), and featured activities and live music from DJ Traz Ion and Bi-curious George.
The monochromatic theme of the event allowed guests to get creative with their outfits while still incorporating the theme. Many attendees chose to wear gothic formal attire to the event, decked out in dark lace, frills, and glitter. Others wore less intricate, yet still elegant attire themed around a single statement color.
Triple Six Social was founded by Andrea Hernandez, a local artist, in 2024. It is a local art cafe best known for its gothic decor and themed drinks. Hernandez started planning the event last year to contrast typical proms, which can be stressful and unpleasant experiences for many people. She presented the idea to the SMTXQC, and they began putting together Alt Prom.
“Since I moved here, I wanted to have a goth prom, our cafe is goth, but also I think we cater to a lot of people who are just, you know, a little different,” Hernandez said. “I wanted to have a prom that was for everyone that always felt uncomfortable during their proms.”
The event began with speed friending, which Hernandez said helped break the ice and helped the guests become a bit more comfortable. Hernandez included the activity to help guests who aren’t as sociable still have a good time during the event.
“A lot of alternative and queer people are very awkward in general and have a hard time making friends, and so I wanted to have speed-friending so you can bypass that awkwardness,” Hernandez said.
In between sets from DJ Traz Ion, pop-punk alternative band Bi-curious George performed live music for the prom.
Bi-curious George formed in 2024, beginning as just a casual cover band. Since then, the group has transitioned into performing their original music. Their first public performance as a group was during Queer Right Here, a Valentine’s Day fundraiser for SMTXQC.
The group consists of two couples: Jason Kowalaski and Natalie Duecker, and Xander Bien and Max Rouch. Hernandez is close friends with Rouch of Bi-curious George and asks the group to perform at Triple Six Social events frequently.
For Alt Prom, the group played a mix of covers and original music. Some music from artists like Chappell Roan were chosen in celebration of Pride Month, and some slow dance songs were thrown in to match the prom theme.
“We’ve got a couple of Chappell Roan covers planned in honor of Pride Month and her rise to stardom,” Duecker said. “Definitely trying to keep it kind of high energy, kind of fun. We have some really fun queer covers that we’re really excited to bust out for everybody.”
Though Hernandez hosted Alt Prom, she chose to host the event at Industry rather than the cafe for a larger venue space and the ability to host more of the community.
“I know this takes business away from the cafe. A lot of people don’t feel like they belong to places, and so I want to show people that there’s [a space] for you,” Hernandez said. “It’s also a way to give back to the community for how well we were received here.”
The San Marcos Queer Council (SMTXQC) assisted with the planning of Alt Prom. SMTXQC is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to foster a healthy LGBTQ+ scene in San Marcos by hosting more queer friendly events. The organization was formed in 2021 and formally received its nonprofit status in 2022.
Ezra, SMTXQC treasurer, helps plan and come up with ideas for future events, along with working as a volunteer during their events.
“Our goal is to build queer spaces around the Hays County area and invite the queer members of our community to come together and form new connections, [and] make friends,” Ezra said.
SMTXQC aims to create a bustling queer community in San Marcos by giving queer individuals a chance to come together at their events. This gives the LGBTQ+ community more options on events to attend, catered to them, and builds a community that can then go on to host their own gatherings.
The organization is built on volunteer work and donations, and any profits made during events are split with event collaborators or put back into SMTXQC to fund future events and necessary expenses to keep the nonprofit afloat.
“The people working at [SMTXQC] have this goal in mind of making a very active social queer community, not only for the San Marcos local community, but also for the student population,” Ezra said.
Triple Six Social and SMTXQC have teamed up for multiple events in the past. SMTXQC assisted during Alt Prom by providing volunteer work, helping with decorations and brainstorming ideas. In exchange, all Alt Prom’s proceeds went to the SMTXQC to fund more LGBTQ+ friendly events in San Marcos.
“Triple Six has been a fantastic collaborator with us over the past several years,” Ezra said. “They’ve been a huge supporter, not only of us, but of the queer community and the alt community.”
The event had a turnout of about 70 attendees, according to Hernandez. She said she hopes Alt Prom is not the last formal event Triple Six Social hosts. She said future events could include a winter ball in December, while Triple Six Social and SMTXQC continue planning community events such as the upcoming Loud and Proud Queer Market with Broke Thespians Theatre Company and other future projects.
