For more than nine decades, The Chattanooga Ball has brought generations of Chattanooga families together around tradition, but behind the gowns, celebration, and pageantry is a purpose that has been there from the beginning.

Giving back.

This year, that tradition resulted in an extraordinary gift. The 36 Belles and Ladies of the Court of the 2026 Chattanooga Ball raised more than $115,000 for Children’s Hospital at Erlanger. The funds will help create sensory rooms within the pediatric emergency department, providing children with spaces designed to reduce stimulation, ease anxiety, and offer comfort during what can already be an overwhelming experience. The impact feels especially meaningful during Down Syndrome Awareness Month, a time that encourages our community to celebrate individuals with Down syndrome while continuing conversations about inclusion, understanding, and meaningful support for people with differing needs.

For Riverview, the Chattanooga Ball is also a story that reaches close to home. Riverview neighbor Reese Hullander served as the Queen of the 2026 Chattanooga Ball, becoming part of a tradition that has included generations of local families. Fellow Riverview neighbors Mark Allen Ramsey and Conley Lupton Crimmins have their own places in the Ball’s history. Mark served as King in 2010, and Conley was crowned Queen in 2012. Both have continued their involvement through service on the Chattanooga Ball Association Board. Their continued participation reflects what the Ball hopes to pass from one generation to the next. The evening itself may be beautiful, but its greater legacy is found in service, generosity, and learning to use tradition as an opportunity to care for the community around you.

That mission stretches all the way back to 1933, when the organization began as the Fall Fashion Show Floor Show Chattanooga Cotton Ball. Its earliest beneficiaries included the Children’s Hospital Free Ward Fund, making this year’s support of Children’s Hospital at Erlanger a meaningful return to the organization’s earliest philanthropic roots. Today, Children’s Hospital at Erlanger operates the region’s only emergency department designed specifically for children and serves critically ill and injured young patients around the clock. The new sensory rooms will add another layer of support by considering not only the medical needs children bring through those doors, but the emotional experience of receiving emergency care. More than $115,000 raised is certainly something worth celebrating. Yet the story behind that number may be even more meaningful. It represents young women learning what it means to serve, families continuing a Chattanooga tradition, neighbors investing in the place they call home, and children who will ultimately experience a little more comfort when they need it most.

For Riverview neighbors who have been part of the Chattanooga Ball throughout the years, that is a legacy worth carrying forward.