ORIGINAL 6:42 PM REPORT: Just an advance FYI – their official “landing” isn’t until noontime tomorrow, but the Seafair Pirates are scheduled to make a landing-eve appearance at Alki within the next hour or so. It’s part of the Make-A-Wish aspect of this year’s Seafair Pirates’ Landing, as mentioned when we first reported on the event’s sponsorship challenges (since resolved) last month. The media advisory that we received with details last night said it was supposed to be a surprise to the teenage Make-A-Wish recipient, an Ellensburg boy, so even though it appears at least one media organization published details today, we’re staying mum, except to let you know you may see pirate activity (and Make-A-Wish volunteers) at the beach tonight. We’ll be there too. 9:20 PM UPDATE: Quite the amazing event. We even had someone onboard Moby Duck as it carried the young now-honorary-Seafair Pirate from downtown to Alki. Will be processing video/photos for separate story too (plus we made a side trip for some headliner rock music at Summer Fest.) In the meantime, we are adding to this with two great photos shared by Alki photographer extraordinaire David Hutchinson. That’s 13-year-old Joseph – now christened honorary Seafair Pirate “Happy Joe Rackham” – with his new compatriots.

Stand by for our next story with a close-up perspective – and a reminder, the official Seafair Pirates’ Landing – in which “Happy Joe” will again be a participant – is tomorrow at Alki, with the Pirates scheduled to come ashore (we hear there’s something new this year!) around 12:30 pm. 10:19 PM: Adding two more photos, shared with us by another of the many photographers who managed to capture this not-too-widely-announced event, Josh Daniels from JayLee Productions:

(In that last photo, after Happy Joe vanquished the soldiers who were on the beach when he and the Pirates arrived, he went onto the sand, lured by the promise of treasure – which he found!)