Once a year, prom mania grips the entire population of Racine, Wisconsin. The city’s extravagant celebration begins with a rowdy parade where students compete for the most outrageous form of transportation, driving fire engines, 18-wheelers, even riding elephant-back through the city streets. Prom-goers from seven city high schools converge on one citywide prom to make red carpet entrances bombarded by the flash of cameras and screams from bleachers filled to capacity. Meanwhile, in sports bars and living rooms across the city, residents keep their eyes glued to the live television coverage of the spectacular event. As featured on This American Life, The World’s Best Prom brings to life an American rite of passage taken to the extreme. With five decades of archival footage, and interviews with diverse prom-goers of all ages, the film glories in the excess of an otherwise simple Midwestern city’s quirky, Dionysian side.