(Our Friday night report on this is here)
More on the event that captivated Alki on Friday night: Phase 1 of the Seafair Pirates‘ Make-A-Wish treat for Joseph, a 13-year-old Ellensburg boy with a life-threatening heart problem – Phase 2 happens during today’s Seafair Pirates Landing at Alki (noonish). Last night, WSB was allowed onboard the Pirates’ landlubbing Moby Duck for Joseph’s journey to Alki, as they picked him up at his downtown hotel, explaining they needed his help to fend off soldiers trying to take the beach. Upon arrival at Alki – strategy, then battle:
A search for beach-buried treasure ensued:
Joseph subsequently was named an honorary Seafair Pirate, “Happy Joe Rackham.” Proclamations from the city and county were read in his honor. Then, check out his smile as he and his fellow Pirates take a break for general bluster:
What you don’t see in our clips are the dozens of Make-A-Wish volunteers and supporters who were at the beach long before, waiting to greet Joseph and the Seafair Pirates. We caught up with them about half-an-hour in advance outside Alki Tully’s, and our photographer stuck with them as they headed to the beach, then caught even more closeup scenes as Joseph battled the soldiers (you get a better look at them in our photos, too). Here’s our Flickr slideshow:
One photo you might have missed in there if you didn’t know who you were looking for:
That’s Lou Cutler, P-E teacher at Pathfinder K-8 in West Seattle. Without people like Lou, kids like Joseph wouldn’t be able to have their wish come true … as you saw here a month ago, Lou has an annual “birthday run” around the Pathfinder field, raising money for Make-A-Wish. Lou told us the final fundraising total from this year’s run is $5,700. You can of course donate to Make-A-Wish any time – just go here. (And go to Alki at noontime to see what adventures are in store next for “Happy Joe” as he comes ashore with the Pirates today!)
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