On Oct. 13 and 14, the 2018 Princess Ball came to the World of Wonder (WOW) building for the 10th consecutive year. With princess volunteers to professional fairytale performances, the ball attracted hundreds of children.

“There are always four performances during the Princess Ball. Two of them are on Saturday and two on Sunday,” Director of the Early Morning Programs Linda Mora said. “Once the show begins the children are transformed into a world of make-believe and magic. They think they are really seeing and meeting the Disney princesses and characters. This time of make-believe is such a short, but precious time in a child’s life.”

The Princess Ball is a fundraiser for the art and music programs for the schools that choose to host the event. Owner Sandi Jablonski’s goal is to expose young children to the performance arena.

“In our school system, the exposure of performing arts is not as prevalent,” Jablonski said. “The Princess Ball cast is top in their field for instrumental, vocal, theater and acrobatic talents. They usually perform little snippets from different fairytale stories. This is all done to inspire children in the performance arts area so that maybe one day they will want to join a choir, be part of a play, or play an instrument.”

Each year the event hosts around 800 people to witness the fairytales come to life. The Princess Ball accepted volunteers from Key Club, NHS, and the middle school leadership program to dress up as a princesses and help with the festivities.

“As a member of NHS, I decided to volunteer for the ball,” senior Avery Hill said. “Being part of the whole situation was so awesome; the kids got really into it. We are all older and the little girls looked up to us. It was fun to see them all excited about the princesses. I had no idea how cool this event really was.”