STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Rock out to music of the ‘80s when the 42nd annual Firefighters’ Ball returns on Saturday. Nov. 19.
The benefit put on by the Ketchum Sun Valley Volunteer Association will start at 7 p.m. at the Limelight Hotel in Ketchum and will feature music by the Diamond Empire Band beginning at 8.
This year’s theme is “All Things 80’s” and participants are encouraged to dress as their favorite person or story or in iconic fashion from the 1980s.
Don’t remember the Eighties? It’s a decade remembered for its materialism and consumerism. It saw the rise of the yuppie and MTV music videos. It included “ALF,” “The Dukes of Hazzard, “Knight Rider” and “Cheers.”
It was the era of power suits, leg warmers and spandex. The Berlin Wall came down, Ronald Reagan touted Reaganomics and “E.T” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” scored big on the silver screen.
Tickets are $30 and may be purchased at Atkinsons’ Market in Ketchum, at the door or at https://www.ksvva.org.
Funds from previous years have enabled firefighters to upgrade their backcountry rescue equipment, replace an outdated wheeled litter, acquire new rope rescue systems, purchase wildland fire line packs, buy a CPR simulation mannequin, train personnel to become AIRE avalanche instructors and convert an engine into a mobile air supply with a compressed air system to refill air bottles at major fires.
Donations also help with EMT training and support the Victim Relief Fund.
If you can’t attend but would like to make a donation, send donations to the Ketchum/Sun Valley Volunteer Association at P.O. Box 1262, Ketchum, ID 83340 or go online at www.ksvva.org/donate.