Sir Edwards Tournament

Hosted in-person by

The Shire of Thornwold (Bellingham – Whatcom County, WA )

Event Summary

Event Main Contact (Event Steward): Genevieve DesMarais
Date: May 5 , 2023 until May, 7 2023
Site opens at: 4:00 PM on May 5th 2023
Site closes at: 2:00 PM on May 7th 2023

Event site:
The Lavender House
779 E Pole Rd Lynden, WA 98264

Event Registration Fees

Adults: $20 for adults,

$5 discount for members

Children: Free (18 and under) 

This is a Level 1: Other (Branch primary events of regional or Kingdom interest) event.

Welcome and many happy returns! The Shire of Thornwood invites you to join us for the 44th Sir Edwards Memorial Tourney, a weekend full of fun, fighting, and festivities. We will have competitions to find our new Champions in Heavy, Rapier, Archery, and A&S.

The theme for this year is the Lunar New Year! 2023 is the year of the Water Rabbit – what better year to celebrate our good luck and good friends! 

Competitions will be held all day Saturday to determine the New Champions in the following formats:

Heavy: Our famous Holmgang Heavy Tourney

Rapier: Format TBA

Archery: championship format will be royal rounds with a novelty shoot to follow, where entrants will be encouraged to “shoot for the moon”!

Arts and Sciences: Prosperity – Entrants are encouraged to make an item(s) representing prosperity – something successful, thriving, or in plenty – that will be given to your inspiration after the event. Your inspiration can be anyone but needs to be identified as part of your entry. Entries should include the item along with a card that describes the item, your inspiration, and how the item relates to the concept of prosperity. See the Facebook page for more info.

Day Food will be available on site! Food will be by donation. There will be a vegetarian soup with the option to add meat is one so wishes! 

Merchants! We have room for more merchants, please contact Ursula at ursulavonfreiburg@gmail.com if you are interested.

Silent Auction: We have made some changes to the beloved Thornwold Silent Auction, ones that we hope you’ll love! There will be a wide variety of items that will be available garage sale style – come and test your bartering skills against the frugal ferocity of our Exchequer Meresige! In addition there will be fine items available in the usual silent auction style – come find a new treasure and help fund the Shire! Garage sale items will not be priced, silent auction items will have a bid sheet.

Friday

12pm – Site opens for merchants

3pm – Site opens for the public

10pm – Mandatory quiet time – please respect the neighbors! 

Saturday

8am – Gate opens 

10am – Archery range opens

Lists for Heavy Homegang opens

A & S entries due at table

11am – Silent Auction and garage sale opens

11:30am – Armor inspection for Heavy

Day Food available 

Noon – Heavy tournament begins 

12:30pm – Lists open for Rapier

1:30pm – Armor inspection for Rapier

2:00pm – Rapier tournament begins

Archery tournament begins 

3:00pm – Silent Auction ends, garage sale closes

4:00pm – day food ends

All competitions tallied

Archery range closest

Gate closes – please check in before this!

4:30pm – Court of Their Highnesses Tir Righ

Sundown – Social on the Erics (weather permitting)

10:00pm – Mandatory quiet time 

Sunday

Noon – Event ends

2pm – Site is closed – please be off site before then and travel safe!

Additional Events

Enchanted Grounds -The Enchanted Grounds is a in-period only area to relax, chat, and share all things medieval! This area will be free all weekend for people to come and work on persona development or just get to enjoy time with others in period.

Badge Design Contest – We are looking to design a badge for the Shire, and we want your designs! Forms will be at Gate, simply submit your design and return the form to Gate when you’re done. Entry to the contest, no matter if a design is chosen, will put you in a drawing for a free pewter badge of our Shire Badge once it’s registered!

Coins of the Realm Contest – The Coins of the Realm in Thornwold are, of course, chocolate chip cookies, so now is your time to prove yours are the best! Bring your entry (minimum 1 dozen) of cookies to Hrafn Halda’s pavilion before noon on Saturday. Public judging will be from 12:30-3:00pm. There will be prizes so make sure to check in!

Gong Fu Cha introduction for youths – Lo Rei of Silk Road Teas & Treasures will be hosting a 30 minute introduction to Chinese teas, free for anyone under 18. Session will be at 11am and possibly another if there is interest. This will include a tasting of a variety of teas as well as their brewing techniques and a bit of history.

We once again welcome you to camp with us at Eddie’s! Please note the county has a 10pm quiet curfew. This is not to say that people can’t party and enjoy themselves, but we cannot have loud music, drum circles, and the like after this time.

Service animals only on-site, no pets. Sadly this is an insurance thing with the site.

Smoking at your campsite or out at the parking lot. Please be respectful of your neighbors.

Thank you so much and we look forward to seeing you there!

Although the SCA complies with all applicable laws to ensure the health and safety of our event participants, we cannot eliminate the risk of exposure to infectious diseases during in-person events. By participating in the in-person events of the SCA, you acknowledge and accept the potential risks. You agree to take any additional steps to protect your own health and safety and those under your control as you believe to be necessary.

This event is held and managed by the Shire of Thornwold, a branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. and is considered the official channel of this group here. Questions regarding its content should be directed to genevieve.sca@gmail.com and thornwold.seneschal@tirrigh.org.

People interacting with the event must adhere to the SCA Core value, behave with courtesy, honor, chivalry and respect, even in times of inevitable differences of opinion, and comply with SCA policy and modern law. The SCA prohibits harassment and bullying of all individuals and groups. Hate speech is not tolerated in the Society. Hate speech is speech or symbols that offend, threaten, or insult individuals or groups, based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, disability or other traits.