Pirates

Pirates’ Ball Costume Contest Set

Now listen here, me hearties! It’s time for you landlubbers to start thinking what you’ll wear to the Pirates Ball on May 12.

Whether you’re a knavish pirate or a wench, you could come in your everyday clothes, of course. But this year the Pirates Ball will feature a costume contest with prizes. Start begging, borrowing or, in true pirate fashion, stealing your finery so you can be judged most splendid.

Pirate's Ball at Ripley's Aquarium of the SmokiesJudges will be Cody Ratliff, costume designer for Country Tonite Theater in Pigeon Forge and designsbycody.com; Summer Blalock-Wilson, a former Mrs. Tennessee; and Ryan DeSear, Regional Manager of Ripley Entertainment. The Aquarium will provide the spectacular background for the event, which offers an evening of live music, dancing, wonderful food, a treasure hunt, fun happenings and the costume contest. Naturally, guests may also examine the incredible assortment of sea life, from sharks to stingrays, sea urchins and seahorses that inhabit the aquarium.

The Ball begins at 6:30 p.m. with a door prize of a flat-screen TV.

All proceeds benefit Mountain Hope Good Shepherd Clinic, which provides medical and dental care to Sevier County residents and employees with no health insurance.  “Attending the Pirates Ball is a great way to have fun and support the Clinic at the same time,” said Ashley Burnette Justice, Director of Fund Development for the Clinic.

Tickets are $50 for adults and $10 for children 12 and younger. They may be obtained by calling the Clinic at 865-774-7684 or visiting mountainhope.org.

Mountain Hope Good Shepherd Clinic provides quality medical and dental care at reasonable cost to Sevier County’s uninsured population. It currently has more than 21,000 people on its rolls.