A dunk tank, pony rides, and a New Orleans-style brass band are coming to the grounds of an Annapolis retirement community next Thursday, all in service of a cause that has touched nearly every family living there. Ginger Cove Retirement Community will host its Carnival for a Cause from 3 to 6 p.m. on August 13, raising money and awareness in the fight to end Alzheimer's disease.
The event is open to everyone, not just Ginger Cove residents or their families, according to WBAL News Radio. Ginger Cove itself is a senior living community that includes aging-at-home programs and nursing care, built on a 30-acre site along Gingerville Creek. Founded in 1988, the nonprofit life-care campus is the only continuing care retirement community in Anne Arundel County accredited by CARF International, with 232 independent living apartments, 50 assisted living units, 15 memory care units, and 55 health center suites.
That accreditation comes with national recognition: in 2026, Newsweek named Ginger Cove among the country's top continuing care retirement communities. Samantha Williams, executive director of Ginger Cove at Home, said dementia touches every part of the community, per the station's report. Ginger Cove at Home is a membership-based program that lets adults 60 and older receive care coordination, health system navigation, and long-term care benefits while staying in their own residences.
A Family's Personal Stake in the Fight
For residents Bob and Barbara Kight, the carnival isn't just a community event — it's personal. Barbara Kight developed Alzheimer's just six months after moving to Ginger Cove, the same account notes. Bob Kight said he hopes future generations will have more resources available to them and that a cure may eventually be found.
Their experience reflects a broader reality across Anne Arundel County, where roughly 10,100 seniors, or about 11.2% of the county's population age 65 and older, live with Alzheimer's disease, according to 2023 prevalence estimates cited by Stacker. That figure ranks the county 13th among Maryland's 23 jurisdictions. Statewide, an estimated 127,200 people live with Alzheimer's, supported by 260,000 unpaid family caregivers, and Maryland's Medicaid care costs for the disease are projected to reach $1.74 billion in 2025, per the Alzheimer's Impact Movement.
Petting Zoos, Pony Rides and a Brass Band
The carnival's lineup leans heavily on local partners. Wild Kid Acres, a 5-acre educational farm in nearby Edgewater founded in 2019 by Naval Academy graduate and Marine veteran Gerardo Martinez, will provide a petting zoo for the event, according to Visit Annapolis. Martinez rehabilitated a former dumping site into the farm's current community agriculture hub. The carnival will also feature pony rides, food trucks, face painters, and treats, along with the dunk tank.
Music will come courtesy of Lasting Tributes Cremation & Funeral Care of Annapolis, which is providing a band for the afternoon. The funeral home offers what it calls Second Line Celebrations, featuring a 6-to-8-piece New Orleans-style band traditionally used in celebratory processions, according to Lasting Tributes.
Proceeds Feed Into October's Regional Walk
Money raised at the carnival will support the 2026 Walk to End Alzheimer's campaign, which culminates in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County on October 18, 2026, serving as the regional finale for community fundraisers like Ginger Cove's event, according to the Alzheimer's Association. The stakes extend well beyond Annapolis. Nationally, health and long-term care costs for people living with Alzheimer's or other dementias are projected to hit $409 billion in 2026 and climb toward nearly $1 trillion by 2050, according to Alzheimer's Association research.
Public dollars are also flowing into the fight. Under Maryland's State Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias, covering 2022 through 2026, the Maryland Department of Health received a $2.5 million grant to strengthen local health department risk-reduction programs and expand dementia-capable services statewide, per documentation from LeadingAge Maryland. For families like the Kights, that combination of grassroots fundraising and state investment offers a measure of hope that the resources available to future generations will look different than what's available today.
