Event Round Up, November
December 9th, 201611/4–Maryland STEM Festival, Science Center, Baltimore
Everyone got to the venue by 0900ish, and we were suited up and ready to go by 0930. We headed down to the main lobby where we stood around and took photos with the staff and kids that were there. During the speeches, we decided it would be a great idea if the TKs stood behind the chairs of the speakers, and it looked really great and the speakers seemed to enjoy it. After the speeches were done we posed once again for some more pictures. Afterward, we wandered the Science Center stopping to take pictures and looked at the exhibits, and we all desuited at 1200. All in all a good time, though we did have some rowdy children who tried to grab our blasters and were pulling on things.
Troopers:
Melissa – ID
William – TK
Warren – ID
Stephen – TK
Shep – IG
Jamie – TK
James Davis – TK
11/5/2016 Force Awakens Movie Day, Millersville
Our contact showed us to the lunch room, where we had ample room to suit up. We were joined by a parent who is an aspiring 501st member, in his nearly completed TK armor. Once we were ready, we went to the auditorium to greet the moviegoers. Two adorable little girls were instantly taken with the biker scout and the ewoks in his holster. We posed for some photos and then took a short walk to try and draw a few more attendees to the event. We encountered a soccer match and took some pictures with the players. Our biker scout represented the empire in a short scrimmage with a youngling soccer fan before we all headed back to check in with the movie and change back. Our fabulous squires took great care of us and, while the attendance was low, everyone present seemed to enjoy visiting with us at this event.
Troopers:
Melissa – ID
William – TK
Andy – TB
Squires:
Cheryl
Bill
11/10–Children’s National Medical Center, DC
Everyone got to the hospital around noon where we checked in and were shown to our green room and met up with Becky the person that invited us to the event and who was Harley Quinn for the event. We also had Supergirl, Spidey, Anna, and Elsa. At 1300 we went to the Ryan Seacrest area where the 1 year anniversary party was taking place. Everyone was a big hit, and it was a non-stop two hours of taking pictures and interacting with the staff and patients of the hospital. I am so happy that we got to attend this event; it was such a good time and so much fun. Hopefully this will show hospitals that Star Wars characters aren’t scary to the kids, and that we can bring them some happiness.
Troopers:
Shep – IG
Emily – CC
Jacob – TK
Jason – R2
Squires:
Bria
11/10–Mount Road Library Star Wars Night, Pasadena
We were suited up by 6:30 and ready to rock and/or roll. We went out and were sad to discover that it was only a handful of kids this time. We took some photos and then just did the wander/talk to those that were in attendance. R2 was the hit of the group as usual. I talked with the librarians and they were as surprised as myself how few people turned out. But they said it had been dead all week and there was some major road construction that might have been to blame. Either way, it was fun for the few folks there and I’m glad we did it.
Troopers:
Eric – TB
Sean – TD
Rob Heck – TK
Tom – TK
James – TK
Jason w/ R2
Couple Rebel types
Many Mando types
11/13–STEM Fest Closing Ceremonies, Thurmont
We arrived at the Thurmont Library at about 12:45 and waited for the doors to open at 13:00. Once the library opened, we made contact with our library sponsor and were shown to the staff workroom to change. We suited up and started patrolling the library by 13:45. The STEM Festival had a lot of activities set up for the younlings. There was face painting, balloon animals, an Earth Sciences lab, a recycling demonstration, a live animal display, and a park ranger with pelts from several types of local animals. One young fan was very insistent that the stormtrooper accompany him to see the live terrapin, repeating that it was a “very big turtle, come see.” We patrolled the library and all of the stations, and were joined later in the afternoon by Keyote, the Frederick Keys mascott. We said goodbye a little after 16:00 and headed back to change.
Troopers:
William – TK
Melissa – ID
11/13– Chili/Chowder Cookoff, Westminster
The event organizer, Tara, was nearly brought to tears when we introduced ourselves as the 501st. She was super excited to have us. This was a small community event at a local church where local people competed in a chili cookoff. People mingled around, trying the chili, and a panel of judges voted on the best ones. Parents brought their children who were very exited to interact with us; lots of high fives and hugs to go around. Parents took the opportunity to take pictures while enjoying the local chili. Tara and her staff were very accommodating, providing us a large room to change in and making sure we had everything we needed. Scott was a great squire, and helped track down a screwdriver for me so I could make a quick adjustment to my helmet. One local woman asked a lot of questions about the 501st; Scott gave her all the info and told her how she can request us for an event. It was a fun day with very nice people at a community-driven event.
Troopers:
Brian J – FOTK
Squires:
Scott S.
11/19–Make-A-Wish Movie, Columbia
We were asked by Make-A-Wish to participate in helping young Gavin make a Star Wars fan film. There’s no way we could miss this! We arrived at ADG Creative studios around 2pm. We were greeted by Joel, who was the assistant director for the Gavin’s film. Joel ran us through what we would be doing in the scene. Prior to getting suited up, we presented Gavin with a signed 501st Clone Big Fig and an OLG Patch, Legion Patch, MEPD Patch, and Fighting Sandtrooper patch. His mother was pretty moved by it, and Gavin had a big smile on his face.
Now onto the scene: Mike and I got suited up with Chris as a reserve if we needed another Sandy. To my dismay, Joel decided that he wanted me to deliver the lines from the script because I had my iComm and he wanted to catch the clicks after each line. Mike was to play dead on the ground. Gavin and Joel’s thought was that Obi Wan would take out the higher ranking officers first and leaving me ( a Sergeant ) for last. As the last remaining Sandy, I was to be exhausted and nervous.
Gavin directed us and told us how he wanted us to act the parts out. He was an amazing and impressive little man. After we ran the scene for about 2 hours, stopping to change lenses, and shoot from different angles, we were free to break down and head out. Mary from Make-A-Wish showed up with Pizza, but Mike and I did not stay. Chris helped out a lot with making sure we were all comfortable, and kept checking on us.
Unfortunately, Mike ended up with 2 cracks in his butt plate from laying on the rocks/sand. I had about 7 million armor bites. Other than that, it was a fun time and it was very interesting to see how these things are filmed. The film is supposed to be released at some film festival next year. ADG Creative was also talking about doing a larger fan film with a ton of troopers. They are kicking around ideas and said that they would let us know.
Troopers:
Mike Harrison
Jesse Pollock
Chris Harper
