Shamrock Tourney
Created in 2018 by Melissa of Dalmatia.
Shamrock Tourney is traditionally held the weekend closest to St Patricks day in Heritage Park in Downtown Olympia.
The Shamrock tourney is modeled off of the Blatha An Oir Rose Tourney model. A garbed fight practice, where fighters show up and fight, and those that are active in the barony show up with hand crafts and a willingness to talk to the public about our game.
These kind of demo activities need minimal equipment to set up or plan. It's best to hold these at a highly visible public park with access to restrooms (for fighters and participants). These events are free events for everyone. Fighters should sign the multi-participant waiver. It's best to have your eric clearly defined. Personal pop up canopies and tables make for good surfaces to show off all the activities and art that our populace does. For best attendance by the public, create a public event that's shareable (possibly a paid event on social media platforms for wider showing). Post the event or event information in local community calendars (which may result in being picked up by the local paper!)
In 2018 there were a total of 4 heavy fighters and 4 cut 7 thrust fighters. Around 10-15 members of the populace came out to support. Melissa provided 36 white carnations dyed green to the looser of each bout who was instructed who to give the flower to by the winner (ideally a non participant).
In 2019 more fighters and members of the populace came, we had dyed carnations again, and green marti-gras beads to give away to local passers by. The newspaper article, being mentioned on the local radio, and a paid FB event, allowed for lots of visibility.
All events were canceled for the Covid-19 Pandemic 3 days before the 2020 event was to take place. Because of Covid numbers the 2021 did not take place.
In 2023 the event morphed to the Shamrock tourney and Artisan village, where we invited members of the populace specifically that weren't affiliated with the fighting community to come and support. To play music, embroider, show off their fletching, or metalsmithing. This event had a QR code as part of what we were sharing with the public, as well as over 200 "shamrock" flower clips. By giving away something that wasn't alive or just a business card or flyer this meant that the public had something they were less likely to throw away (paper is notorious for just being tossed after being handed out). The barony also tried to take a page out of Dragon's Lair's book and hold a "new comers night" the Tuesday after the event.