The annual ball organized by the Navy League Casco Bay Council carries extra weight this year, as the military branch celebrates its 250th year.

The 250th Navy Birthday Ball is Oct. 4 at the St. John’s Community Center on Pleasant Street in Brunswick.

The night’s featured speakers will be Tom Rivers, acting deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for ship programs, and Charles Krugh, president of Bath Iron Works.

Tickets are on sale at NavyLeagueMaine.org. For active-duty sailors, ticket prices are discounted according to rank.

About 160 people have already gotten tickets, said James “Rusty” Robertson, a member of the Navy League Casco Bay Council from Topsham. Past balls have drawn about 100 attendees.

“The Navy is older than the country by a year,” said Robertson, a retired Navy captain.

This year, the Navy League has partnered with Main Street Bath and the Brunswick Downtown Association. BIW, the Maine Maritime Museum and the Brunswick Naval Aviation Museum are also sponsoring the ball.

“A lot of local businesses have come forward to sponsor this,” Robertson said.

Raffles at the ball will benefit the Charles Stickney Scholarship Fund, a fund benefiting cadets and named for a founding member of the Casco Bay Navy League.

Robertson said the Navy League has been planning the 250th birthday celebration since January. The event will incorporate traditional elements, including a toast and the reading of the Sailor’s Creed, he said.

Brunswick has deep ties to the Navy dating back to the commissioning of Brunswick Naval Air Station in 1943. The base played a key role in maritime patrol aviation during the World War II and Cold War eras. The last squadron left the former base, now known as Brunswick Landing, in 2009, and it was officially decommissioned in 2011.

Karen Sigler, executive director of the Brunswick Naval Aviation Museum, said the event will be an exciting celebration of Maine’s naval history.

“Two hundred and fifty years as an anniversary for anything is exceptional, but it’s so near and dear to our museum, obviously because of [Naval Air Station] Brunswick and our mission to keep that history alive, and keep the memory alive of the servicemen and women that served on that base,” Sigler said.