Pirates drop anchor for another year of plundering fun

It helps to be familiar with the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.

Otherwise, you might be confused when the kids in front of you shriek delightedly, “Oh no! The kraken is going to get us!”

Delighted and joyful rather than frightened screams were the flavor of the night Friday at the opening of this year’s sixth annual “Pirates of Dollar Lake” guided, walk-through adventure.

The event continues from 7 to 9 p.m., Sept. 23, 24, 30, and Oct. 1 at the Big Lake Lion’s Community and Recreation Center.

Veteran pirate guides Jordon Olmsted, 10, and Blake Rogers, 10, are volunteering for the third year. The first year, Olmsted said it was his mom’s idea for him to get involved.

“We’ve got a lot of experience with this,” he said.

When the pair aren’t leading people though the pirate maze, they play characters in the pirate jail.

Volunteer Shiloh Morrison of Big Lake recalls Olmsted from past seasons. She said she’s part of the Society of Creative Anachronism and the pirate she is this night is just one of the characters she plays throughout the year.

Morrison said one of her favorites parts of the show is the story of how it began in Capt. Linda Lockhart’s garden six years ago.

The first year was 2006 and about 150 children and their parents attended the free pirate-themed event Lockhart and John Erksine organized along the paths of their Lockhart and Erksine Garden on the shores of Dollar Lake.

Every year since, Capt. Lockhart said the event has grown with the addition of more over-sized pirate characters, a flying dress, two half-size pirate ships, wild mermaids, a captive mermaid, a spinning kraken, baffles, fog machines and pirate treasure chests filled with riches.

Last year, nearly 1,300 people took the tour and raised more than $6,000 to support the 26,000-square-foot Big Lake Lion’s Community and Recreation Center.

“Every dollar that is collected goes to keeping the lights on and the ice groomed in the winter so the kids have a superb place to practice their skating skills,” Lockhart said.

Certainly one of the most impressive features of “Pirates of Dollar Lake” is how the event is put on every year: more than 100 volunteers worked more than 4,000 hours to design and construct the scenes for this year’s show, Lockhart said.

Each year, the show adds new scenes and characters to the adventure, she said. This year the performance includes 22 unique “living pictures” or scenes, Lockhart said.

Also new are the Sahara Storm Circus Arts, whose members portray the mermaid, do tribal dancing on the Tortuga Stage and perform fire art skills at the Signal Fire in the parking area.

And Houston’s Alaska WildBird Rehab Center returns this year with owls, ravens and hawks for people to see up close and personal in the Captain’s Quarters.

“Many drive from Anchorage or Talkeetna to attend this event and for some families, the kids have grown up coming to pirates,” Lockhart said.

At this point, she said she works year-round to come up with ideas, materials and concepts to fill the Olympic-sized skating rink with family friendly fun.

Friday night, one of the first in line to buy tickets was a boy and his grandmother who used gold coins to pay their admission. In line behind them was a birthday party of 15 hardy souls who’d come to celebrate Deshawn Campbell’s 7th birthday.

The group was made up of big pirate fans, said Stevens Silvers, 13. He said he recognized lots of characters from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies in the scenes inside.

Noah Nix, 9, summed the night up in one word: “awesome.”

Older sister Natalie Nix, 10, said she liked it a lot. Her favorite part was the mermaid, she said. But she also liked the water drain and mermaid cups scene.

Asked to pick her favorite part, Mya Campbell, 5, couldn’t decide.

“All of it,” she said excitedly.

Most in the group said they had the steely nerves necessary to touch the heart of Davy Jones and proudly showed off the gold coins they’d earned to prove it. Some in the group said they also hope to someday volunteer as part of the cast of pirates.

Lockhart said opening kids’ eyes to careers in the arts is part of the impetus for the event.

Maya Vincent, 6, said she liked the pirate adventure, but she said there was one scary part.

“The flying sheet that comes down — ‘ZZZZZ’ — and scares you,” she said imitating the sound it made. “I didn’t like that.”

Tickets are available at the gate and cost $5 per person or $15 for a family of four. No children under 12 admitted without a responsible adult. The event continues from 7 to 9 p.m., Sept. 23, 24, 30, and Oct. 1 at the Big Lake Lion’s Community and Recreation Center.

For more information, visit piratesofdollarlake.info.

Contact Heather A. Resz at heather.resz@frontiersman.com or 352-2268.