by: Ruth “Doubloon Devil” Jinx - The Fury of Scallop Harbour
tybee island pirate fest | buccaneers bulletin | tybeeisland.com 7
Photo by: Wen McNally
Yo- Ho-Ho! Its that time of year again to hoist
your anchors, ready yer sea legs and sail to
Tybee’s 15th Annual Pirate Fest. So, splice the
mainbrace and get ready to meet our King
and Queen of this year’s celebration.
Avast Matey’s, this year’s King is none other
than Mayor Jason Buelterman. He’s been the
Mayor of our fair isle for 14 years, ending his
term in January 2020. Jason has smartly and
instrumentally secured booty of plenty for
Tybee’s beaches. He plans to venture off for
higher grounds off the island o’Tybee and
run for Chatham County Commission Chair.
Shiver me timbers! Did ye know that yar
Buelterman was also a high school teacher
at Johnson High? He has been known to be
spotted off the ship on occasion, catching a
wave, on what I can only assume is a pirate
surfboard. Always a supporter and a sea rover
at heart!
Batten down the hatches and prepare for
the Queen, Kim Trammell. Kim was raised
in Savannah and got her sea legs moving
to the beach in the mid-1970s and has been
a member of Tybee Arts Association since
2008 and for the past two years has been it’s
president. She moonlights at the Tybee Post
Theater as house manager and runs the TAA
summer theatre camp for all the little lads
and lasses. Arrrrgh, that a lot! Kim’s and her
partner Renee have built and run the pirate
encampment at the Tybee Island Pirate Fest
for six years. Their pirate mentality, after
sharing our island with thousands of visitors
is to take it back by celebrating with other
seafaring hearties in a romantic adventurous
life of a pirate during the festival. Amongst
all her other landlubber jobs, she is currently
an administrative assistant at The Original
Crab Shack, Blimey! Kim and Renee share
their crow’s nest with Kim’s sea cat Theadore.
Don’t be a scallywag or a son of a biscuit eater
and miss out on this year’s King and Queen
Coronation at the Buccaneer Ball!
Thank you to Joan Gara and Belinda Flanigan for providing our King & Queen photoshoot locations.