Ides of March

On March 24 of this year, the Canton of Iron Oak will hold Ides of March in Morrice, Michigan. They have held this event several times before.

Stormvale had been tentatively planning a heraldry workshop for that day. I hope that we change the date. Plenty of other dates with no nearby events, in my opinion.

Iron Oak and Stormvale, as I'm sure is no mystery to locals in either group, have a somewhat awkward history. Iron Oak was formed in 1995 by former members of Stormvale, and the location of the branch was for some time not settled; let's put it that way and leave out the details. But now Iron Oak is the Shiawassee County branch, a part of the Barony of the Northwoods, and therefore a close neighbor. We would hope that Iron Oak members would naturally attend Stormvale events; therefore it is natural for Stormvale members to attend Iron Oak events.

I often have myself; once I found myself an impromptu marshal-in-charge at an Iron Oak event, and I was pleased (though a little surprised, and not the only one) to be of service. My best day in the lists came at a bear-pit tourney in Iron Oak one time; I suddenly, and rather unexpectedly, began tearing through my opponents, a pretty competent assemblage including one knight and a knight-to-be, at a ferocious rate, holding the field for a long time, and finally getting defeated by an opponent who dented my helm and then apologized for hitting me so hard, as he had not realized I was going to suddenly tire and let the blow through. I was greatly pleased by that, headache and all.

Iron Oak events, in my experience, are small, friendly and exuberant - rather like Stormvale events as I recall them from the late 1980s. And perhaps that should be no surprise. I hope there will be a good turnout from Stormvale this year. Certainly I will go.

Update: This post was corrected to reflect the actual title of the event.