Circus Acts and Fabulous Hats: Annual Headdress Ball Hits Town

The Assistance League of San Bernardino gathered hundreds of eager community members at the National Orange Show for their 54th Annual Signature Headdress Ball on Saturday, April 25. They held two shows. The doors for the matinee show opened at 9:30 a.m., while the evening gala started out with a cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m. Food, drinks, and sweet treats were served to everyone while they sat at their circus and carnival-themed tables, while stilt-walkers roamed around greeting everyone. This year with a circus theme, attendees didn’t only enjoy a headdress parade: they also enjoyed various circus acts. According to Director and Vice President of fundraising Carol Dixon, who has been participating the annual Headdress ball, the organization's largest annual fundraiser, for more than 10 years, that the cast of over 75 models started training and practicing for the event in January. “There’s a lot of work that we put into it, but it’s fun," she said. The headdress ball started out with just small, regular-sized hats with a bit of sparkle. However, it has evolved into an extremely popular trend that has been attracting people progressively through the years; the hats have become more detailed, much bigger, and of course, more fabulous. “It’s come to the point now that we have professional designers, florists and choreographers coming in to take part in it,” Dixon explained. This year’s theme was “Circus Ball," decided by the Headdress Ball Chairs Margie Arnett and Cheryl Lopez. It took some serious decorative, creative skills and hard work to put this year’s ball together, explained Assistance League President Deb Karalun. “We’ve been working on this for over a year and it was a team effort. We were lucky enough to get the Redlands YMCA, the circus, to join us,” Karalun shared. The circus had a variety of acts including unicyclists, trapeze artists and more. “Everybody has a hand and a role to fill. It’s really a group effort,” she added. All proceeds from the event go to benefit children through two programs: Operation School Bell and Dr. Earl R Crane Children’s Dental Health Center. “With what it’s become, I couldn’t be more proud,” Karalun said. They have raised over $100,000 in a previous year and are hoping to raise even more this year. Between the matinee show and the evening show, hundreds of community members gathered at the Orange Show Event Center to enjoy the Headdress Ball last Saturday.