'Shark Tooth Fairy' to partner for Tybee Island hunt

The Shark Tooth Fairy is branching out.

Mike Harris, who has built a large following with shark teeth and fossil hunts for kids at The Sands in Port Royal, plans his next hunt in Tybee Island, Ga. But this time his role will be a little different.

Harris is partnering with an event planner who wants to hold the hunt as a fundraiser.

Brian Stafford, of Stafford Promotions, has bought or collected more than 20,000 teeth to use in the hunt, which is planned for 10 a.m. Oct. 18.

Tickets will be $10 and available on Stafford's website, pending approval of the event from Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Stafford is capping the initial hunt at 1,000 tickets .

"The next one we do we should be able to up the ante a little bit," Stafford said.

A portion of the proceeds will go to the Tybee Island Marine Science Center, Stafford said, and the center will have a tent set up during the event to educate children on their finds.

The hunt will include separate sections for toddlers and children with special needs.

Stafford asked Harris to join him to bring additional teeth and help entertain and educate the children.

"They see the value of doing something good for kids that inspires their mind to do something better," Harris said. "I think it's wonderful."

Harris recently purchased a boat for diving for teeth after using friend's boats to collect bounty for previous hunts. He plans to continue organizing hunts but has a hangup before he continues.

His application to renew his hobby diver license has been denied by the S.C. Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology and S.C. State Museum. A letter Harris posted to Facebook from the Maritime Research Division, which operates the hobby diver program, said Harris failed to include required information on his first two quarterly reports detailing his finds this year.

Harris said he submitted all the required information, that he doesn't see any value in reporting teeth and fossils finds and that the officials are being unreasonable.

This story was originally published August 28, 2015 at 9:39 AM with the headline "'Shark Tooth Fairy' to partner for Tybee Island hunt."