FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 4, 2009
CONTACT: Molly Dannenmaier
Director of Marketing and Public Relations,
409-765-7834
molly.dannenmaier@galvestonhistory.org

Spirit of ELISSA Evening to Feature Dinner, Live and Silent Auctions, and Big-Band Dance Music by 16-Piece Orchestra

Lakewood Yacht Club to Receive Texas Tall Ship Award

On Saturday, September 19, the Lakewood Yacht Club will be honored as the ninth recipient of the Spirit of ELISSA Award. The award, presented by Galveston Historical Foundation and the Texas Seaport Museum, will be given at a gala evening event to be held at Lakewood Yacht Club beginning at 6:30 p.m. featuring dinner, dancing, and silent and live auctions. Big band music will be provided by the 16-piece Billie Ledbetter Orchestra. Individual tickets, at $100 each, are available online at www.galvestonhistory.org/soe or by calling the Texas Seaport Museum at 409-763-1877. Table purchases and other sponsorship opportunities are enumerated online. Proceeds benefit the 1877 ELISSA.

Lakewood Yacht Club has been an enthusiastic supporter of ELISSA for many decades. In 1987, Lakewood spearheaded the first Harvest Moon Regatta offshore from Galveston to Port Aransas. In the race’s 21st year in 2007, Lakewood raised funds to invite ELISSA to sail along with the yachts for the 153-mile overnight offshore race. Following festivities and public tours in Port Aransas, ELISSA sailed to Corpus Christi for a week’s port visit, where some 4,000 school children and the public were able to tour the ship and learn about Texas maritime history.

“Lakewood Yacht Club’s tireless support of ELISSA has been invaluable,” says John Moran, longtime volunteer leader. “The club’s energy, generosity and ability to turn dreams into reality embody the Spirit of ELISSA. We are delighted to award this fine institution with the Texas Seaport Museum’s highest honor.”

ELISSA is a fully restored square-rigged, iron-hulled sailing bark, built in 1877 by master shipbuilders Alexander Hall and Company of Aberdeen, Scotland. Now a National Historic Landmark and the Official Tall Ship of Texas, ELISSA represents one of the world’s premier maritime restoration projects. ELISSA is one of only three 19th-century tall ships in the U.S. that has been restored to full sailing capacity. She is berthed at the Texas Seaport Museum in Galveston and is open for public tours seven days a week. She embarks on a series of daysails for several weeks each spring. She is maintained and sailed by an all-volunteer crew. Programs include an active youth crew training group, overnight programs (popular with scout and church groups) and a Seamanship Training program for the development of volunteer crew to maintain, preserve and sail the vessel. There is no other such volunteer crew training program anywhere in the country. ELISSA’s is recognized as a national model.

One of the highlights of this year’s Spirit of ELISSA evening is a select silent auction that focuses on ELISSA- related items. The silent auction will include fine art, framed prints on canvas, a Maine traditional schooner trip, half-hull models of ELISSA and a ship’s clock mounted in the yoke from the main royal yard of ELISSA. The live auction will offer bidders the opportunity to sponsor the making of a new upper topsail for the main mast. The sail will be made by Jim Brink, one of the country’s most skilled master sail makers—whose projects include making the sails for the Hollywood films “Master and Commander” and “Pirates of the Carribean.” Successful sponsors will be invited to join Brink in traditional sail making sessions at the Texas Seaport Museum.


The Spirit of ELISSA award, a porcelain casting of an original sculpture by Texas sculptor Edward Hankey, is a likeness of the ELISSA figurehead, created by the artist based on exacting measurements and photographs of the figurehead. Hankey’s sculptures appear throughout Texas—on the state capitol grounds and memorial sites as well as in many schools and private collections.

For more information about the Spirit of ELISSA event, call the Texas Seaport Museum at 409-763-1877.