2016 Firemen's Ball in Photos

Thursday, June 2, 2016 - 00:20 Sundae Horn

If a picture's worth a thousand words....

then this photo gallery should count as a 48,000-word essay on the magic and mayhem of the Firemen's Ball. This annual event puts the fun in fundraising for Ocracoke's VFD. See you next year!

Click on any photo below to enlarge it, then you can scroll through them all by clicking the "next" button in the upper right corner. Enjoy! 

  • This year's Firemen's Ball has cleared over $56,000 and sponsor money is still coming in!
  • Charlie O'Neal took the first shift of t-shirt sales on Saturday.
  • 11th Firemen's Ball and 50th year of OVFD
  • What would Blackbeard do? Support the OVFD!
  • Saving up for a new truck!
  • Will Roberson and Grill-Zilla in action. Together they cooked 782.22 pounds of Boston butt and 200 racks of ribs! They only work for charity - Will says if he had to worry about making money it would take all the fun out of it!
  • Master chef Will and his assistant Jason Williams taking a break during the cooking. They'd been at the Community Center since 8pm the night before, put the butts on to cook at midnight, and stayed up all night tending to the pork.
  • OVFD firefighter Anna Rucker was on potato duty.
  • Annie Kearns got to chop taters, too. It's a family event for her – Annie's dad is Larry Ihle, one of the Firemen's Ball organizers.
  • Chris, David, and Brandon are ready for some pork to pull
  • Pulling the meat off the bone
  • These four coolers are full of the cooked pork, ready for pulling and chopping.
  • The choppers await
  • Chopping trough custom-made by Russell Berry
  • Chop chop!
  • The BBQ slides out of the trough into the warming pans.
  • Dusty adds the secret sauce.
  • The 'cue is kept warm in this contraption.
  • David and Will looking pleased with their efforts
  • Peggy and Tommy are here to serve the 'cue and take your money.
  • Steph and Dusty are loading plates of BBQ. Over 800 plates were served this year!
  • BBQ plate assembly line. Steph says this is her favorite job because she gets to see everybody who comes through the line.
  • Photo op with Steph and Larry
  • Lots of goodies in the Silent Auction!
  • Caroline Temple, Abby Morris, Katie Winslow, and Josie Winstead were the live auction assistants, displaying the items and handing them to the winners.
  • Auctioneer Philip Howard takes bids on a mermaid donated by artist Cindy Fiore.
  • Shay Trainer bids $1400 for an Ocracoke fig cake made by Ruth Toth. Ruth's cake won the 2015 Fig Cake Bake-Off last August. Her two chocolate cakes went for $500 each at this year's Firemen's Ball!
  • The old SmacNally's sign went for $1100. Its former owner lost a bet that it wouldn't go for more than $1000. We're so happy he was wrong!
  • Judy holds up the big check that Ernie just presented to her.
  • The bank has been paid in full!
  • Larry and Steph react to the news that the mortgage is paid in full.
  • Albert and his big check
  • Ernie, Albert, and Judy photo op!
  • Teresa oversees the auction bidding and paying, with Leslie, Barbara, and Cindy helping. The live auction raised over $21,000!
  • Head bartender Karm Laton and one of her minions, Chrisi Gaskill are ready to serve.
  • Albert shakes down people as they enter – you gotta contribute to the boot – and checks I.D.s for over-21 bracelets.
  • Another minion, Louise Salerno, poses with Karm.
  • Dusty's ready to rock!
  • Ocracoke Rockers!
  • Martin Garrish!
  • Lou Castro played all night with all the bands! I didn't get a really good photo of him, because he moves so much they are all a blur!
  • The Dune Dogs!
  • Dune Dog Dusty!
  • Crowded dance floor
  • More Dogs
  • Aaron Caswell!
  • Jackie and Aaron of Aaron Caswell Band
  • Dusty mugs for the camera!
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