Nundah Festival Troop Report 2015

[Rebelrach]

Date: Sunday Sep 13, 2015

Venue: Nundah, Brisbane Qld

Time: 10.00 – 14.30

Mission: To add some Star Wars magic to the annual Nundah Festival, invited again this year by James and his gang from Fast Break Sports pop culture store. Same as last year we collected for charity (The Pyjama Foundation) and James kindly makes a great donation from him for us and Tatooine Rebels for attending. D2L were also there again, the costume mix is great.

Trooper Attendance:
501st:
DW – Sandtrooper
Diatium – TK
MrD – TK
Slide Effect – Tie Pilot Reserve
Stormraven – Garadin / Tie Pilot
Rebelrach – Imperial Officer / POC
Bigmac - ISB
Taragan – Captain Rex (Phil, guest trooper from Outpost 42 – NZ)

RL:
Tobalation – Jedi
Jeadous Teal – Jedi
Gene Neon – Jedi
Nuan Neon - Jedi

Galactic Academy
Darkstar (Sebastian) – Mini Vader
Sneaka (Xavier) - Jawa


Support Crew:
Aasmetz – Wrangle / photos
Kev Vader- Wrangle
Cobra – Wrangle
Canuk – Wrangle

Details: This is a great community street event and grows every year. Troopers assembled in the change rooms above Fast Break sports to meet and greet. Air con ON! After a brief on the day’s events and demonstration on how to demolish Imperial baked goods, troopers headed out for a group photo in front of the store at 10am, then into the festival, breaking up into smaller groups for maximum galactic impact and awe. Captain Rex (showing off the fact he’s the world’s only ‘bucket off’ Captain Rex) wowed the adoring throngs of kids, showing us how they do it in Kiwi Land.

A great responsive crowd, who doesn’t love Star Wars and the selection of characters was great. A good break for lunch gave the troopers time to hydrate and fuel up, thanks to Paul’s great sandwiches and generosity, then time for the afternoon shift. Some generous donations from the local publican and stall owners and stacks of photos taken.

An unexpected request to go on stage and talk about our clubs, our costumes, Star Wars and our chosen charity was accepted, Rebelrach asked to fill in 10 mins (OK I admit it, it wasn’t hard!) With little effort were able to demonstrate the might of the Empire and Rebellion in front of the adoring crowd. In all seriousness it was a great way to tell a whole lot of people what we do, how awesome are costumes are and the kinds of things we do for the community and charity. We had a lot of interest after the talk, folks coming to talk to us (which is why it’s so great having wranglers/officers and business cards handy!) and even an offer of a large donation by a stall holder when he heard about the charity for the day.

By 2.30pm we had more than succeeded in our mandate to wow the crowds and raise some money. Troopers navigated the last hurdle -2 flights of stair up to the change rooms. Note to self: Always push in front of the sandys, they take forever!

By 3pm we were all departing to our own parts of the universe in our galactic transports, with some to the pub for a relaxing glass of blue milk to celebrate another awesome troop.

Charity Funds Raised: $954.20!!! $154.20 in donations and generously $800 by Fast Break Sports for our attendance to The Pyjama Foundation (supporting kids in foster care).

Injuries / Malfunctions: Dw some nasty armour bites and a bruised ego as he was ‘out punned’ by the German sausage hut guy. Honestly how many dad jokes can we stand!?!

Public Incidents: NIL after MrMd thought his thermal detonator had been ‘acquired’ but it was in his bag all along. D’oh!

Mission Status: Great success. Mission accomplished. Great troop, good fun, great donations and some good PR for us and the Pyjama Foundation. A real credit to the great spirit in which folk trooped and cooperated. Our wranglers especially stayed on target all day. Thanks all!

A special shout out to Lucky Phil from Outpost 42 NZ who trooped like a champ. Was great having him there, and Aasmetz for juggling donation bucket and camera.

Photos:
Thanks to Aasmetz we had dozens of pics, here are the best ones:

A great turn out for the Festival for 2015.



Shop for specials!!!



So do I get a staff discount on this?



Move along youngling…move along…



Captain Rex is outnumbered



My new balloon lightsabre is no laughing matter!



Refreshment is in our sights!



Come on folks! Who loves Star Wars!!?!



Captain Rex ‘curtseys’ ?



Guess what’s under the helmet?! It really IS Captain Rex!



This queue for Episode 7 merch is getting crazy!



Garradin shopping for some suitable Tatooine footwear



Add a splash of colour…



DON'T say I’m a little short for a Stormtrooper…



Cookies!? Phhhpt! The Empire now has cupcakes!



A well earned refreshing beverage after a great day’s troop! Well deserved.