5/21–Winfield Elementary Spring Fair, Westminster
This was a really big school event! We were very popular! Luckily, the event was moved indoors, so R2 was able to make it. R2 had fun playing soccer with another robot. Rex also learned how to clog! Thanks to Brian and Laila for squiring for us!!!

Troopers:
Matt – TK
Emily – Rex
Jason – R2
Aidan – IC

Squires:
Brian
Laila

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5/21–Margaret’s 10th Birthday Party, Odenton

We showed up just in time to greet the birthday girl who said she was a huge fan and would love to join the 501st someday. As she got ready, so did we. In the garage we could hear the guests arriving and waited until we were asked to enter where we were then greeted with surprise and awe. We took pictures and of course lots of selfies with the guests. Margaret’s 2-year-old brother never left our TK’s side, and even brought a droid or two over that we definitely were not looking for. The troop was short and sweet and we are sure that we left a huge impression on Margaret, her parents ,and defiantly her brother.

Troopers:

William – TK
Melissa – ID

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5/21–Cherry Hill Middle School Student Expo, Elkton

What a great day! This was the first time the school had an event like this on a Saturday and, despite the rain, it was a big success. There was a steady stream of people from about 1:45 (which was 15 minutes early!) until about 4:30 or so. The Hinton family came down from Carida and were great as always. We were also joined by Sam from the Rebel Legion as Rey, who won probably the most acclaim of the day. One of the schools’ teachers had a birthday party for her little girl in the middle of the Expo, and Katie (who turned 8 and came dressed as Rey!) was over the moon to take pictures with us. We wandered around the book fair and other exhibits, taking pictures, playing with kids, and generally having a good time. We raised $100 in donations for Pennies for Patients in partnership with the school’s National Junior Honor Society!

Troopers:
Chris – TR
Mike – TK (GC)
Zoe – BH (GC/GA)
Saffy – DZ (GC/GA)

Rebel Legion:

Sam – Rey

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5/22–Great Strides Walk, Frederick

This was a nice troop, even though it was a bit wet. It took us awhile to get started. The city forgot to unlock the changing room, so we had to wait for them to come back and open it for us. Melissa also had a wardrobe malfunction, but she was kind enough to squire and take pictures for us. Luckily the rain greatly slowed and/or stopped for most of the event. We took pictures and participated in the walk with all the teams. They seemed really happy to have us there with the Frederick Keys and Hood College mascots.

Troopers:
Matt – TK
William – TK

Squires:
Melissa

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5/26–Concert Night Solanco High School, Quarryville, PA

This was a really good troop! Chris joined up with Carida and Rebel Legion’s Ghost Base for the show. The orchestra started the show with 2 songs before hitting 3 Star Wars tunes. When the Imperial March started, we stormed the stage, and proceeded to look awesome through the rest of the songs. We then left to take a break while the other musical groups performed. At the end of the show, we went to the lobby to take pictures with a very excited crowd of kids, parents, and grandparents.

Troopers:
Chris-TR

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5/28–Birthday Party for a 7-year-old, Potomac

This was a fun, but warm birthday party. The family’s AC was out, so our Troopers found a shade tree outside.  The parents made Jedi robes for all the kids. There were about 12 kids in all, along with lots of parents. On the way out, the mom asked if we wanted to take home some homemade empanadas, which we gratefully accepted.  That translated to a tray full!

Troopers:
Emily – CC
Matt – TK

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6/4–Relay for Life, Sykesville

We landed at the remote location of Sykesville, MD where the event had been in full swing since early that morning. After getting ready, William left the building where he was promptly mobbed by a group of younglings who wanted something called selfies. He patrolled many laps of the event and took pictures with many of the citizens.

Troopers:
William – TK

Squires:
Drew

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6/4–TFA at the Old Greenbelt Theater

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6/5–4th HoCo STEM Festival, Columbia

Upon arrival to the STEM fair, William and Melissa began their patrol on the second floor of the building. Melissa did a fine job at talking up the Empire and interviewing exhibitors for possible tech advancement opportunities. Her best find was the prosthetics people, since our bosses have a hard time of keeping all of their limbs. William patrolled passed the robotics dept, where he was repeatedly asked if these were the droids I was looking for ( You miss them one time. . .), after the first half we were joined by Sebastian, a rather short biker scout, and a jawa. We all walked around and posed for photos, and were asked to stand guard as one of this planets diplomats spoke. The patrol went very well and we left with a lot of Intel for the R and D department. Maybe they can use it to repair the exhaust port issue on the Death Star I keep hearing about.

Troopers:

William – TK
Melissa – ID
Sebastian – TK
Carlyn – TB (GA)
Aileen – DZ (GA)

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6/9–6th Annual Joint Base Andrews Motorcycle Safety Day

Everyone was on hand by 0820, Brandon our POC gave us an abandoned bank to have for our changing room, so of course we had to check that out for a little bit. After that, we got dressed and headed to the Safety Course where we pretty much had free reign to do whatever we wanted, which meant we walked around and stopped to take pictures with everyone that was there.

Troopers:
Shep
Brian

Squires:
Andy

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6/11–Relay for Life, Laurel

This was a very nice and solemn troop. The organizers kicked off the event with a few words about fighting cancer and celebrating the survivors. We cheered on the survivors during their first lap, then walked a couple of laps. We visited several of the vendors and posed for pictures. One of the booths was decorated in all kinds of Star Wars regalia. We also met several people that had been to Awesome-Con the week before. After encouraging the folks pitching at the dunking booth, we called it a day.

Trooper:
Charlie – TI

Rebel Legion:
Sam – Rey

Troopers,

It’s the Monday after Awesome Con and my body is reminding me of every bruise made, armor bite received, and step taken. I’m aching and exhausted. And I know so many of you are too. I also know that every ache was worth it.

To see more pics, check out our Facebook page.

DC United Star Wars Night, 5/13

Fundraiser for the Harford Co. Sheriff’s Benevolent Fund, 5/14

This was a small, fun troop for a good cause.  In February, two Sheriff’s deputies were killed in the line of duty, and the community has rallied since then to raise money for the families left behind.  In recognition of this effort, our troops (including R2) wore black and blue striped arm bands.  Donations were collected in a Darth Vader-shaped bucket, and the relatively small crowd contributed $300 for the Benevolence Fund.  Throughout the evening, a handful of families showed up with a huge group of kids to the church’s multipurpose room. The grill was serving hamburgers and hot dogs to go along with the popcorn and other snacks, all of which they kindly offered to us. The kids were making balloon animals, lightsabers, blasters, and other creations…many of which ended up as totally approvable modifications to our costumes. ;-)  We danced to some tunes played by DJ R2 and played with the kids for about an hour and a half. There was also occasional Star Wars trivia and a kid’s costume contest.  We were assisted by Jason, R2, Amy, and Brian, who was visiting from the Alaskan Outpost.

Troopers

Emily – CC
Chris – TR
Devin – TB
Charlie – TI

Jason – R2

Squires
Brian
Amy

 

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AA Co. Library Comic Con, 5/14

This was a solo troop for Charlie, TI 386, who got things going at  10:00am.  There was plenty of room in the parking lot initially, but when he left at 11:45am, all spaces were filled, and there were people parking along the curbs, just like the mall at Christmas time! The library also brought in staff from the Severna Park branch. There were several rooms with different activities, and many tables spread around the perimeter of the library with comic book authors, artists, and even Third Eye Comics (a frequent haunt for OLG) had a table! There were also some superheroes with a very muscular Spiderman, Deadpool, Optimus Prime, and Grant from the Charm City Ghostbusters.

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Dolphin Fun Fair, 5/14

Most people arrived around 11am to be dressed up for the fair. We took lots of pictures and were able to roam around as kids did the obstacle course , moon bounce, and generally had a blast.  We all went to lunch at Champs afterwards with the exception of Matt, Jason, & Charlie who moved on to their next troop. The Dayton Oaks Elementary PTA was so thrilled with our appearance, that the plan on making a donation to charity in our name.

Troopers

Randy – TFA TK
Charlie – TI
Stephen – TK
Doug – TK
Matt – TK
Leonard – DZ
Mike – TB
Jim – SL

Jason – R2

Galactic Academy

William – Biker
Charlotte – Jawa
Kiera – Jawa
Trevor – Jawa