Yup, I wore the stormtrooper. Pretty light crowd, and for us we got help from the Indiana group. Still had a good time though.
We'll be back at the museum the end of the month for a regular daytime event, and much larger crowd. I'll wear the ISB officer for that one, it's a long haul back to the end of hangar 4 with our stuff.
Yesterday was the 2nd year for the WACO Fly-In in Troy OH. Last year was beautiful weather, this year was stupid hot. That entire field is brown and dead from the drought, they warned people not to smoke anywhere out on the grass.
I was going to wear my stormtrooper again, for the kids, but a serious episode of vertigo Thursday had me still recovering and with the heat, I switched at the last minute. But at least I could sit down a few times, especially at the free lunch they offered volunteers. We ended up staying fairly long too, so it was probably a wise choice. We wanted to see the "bomb drop" contest, they dropped 1# bags of flour on a painted target. SWMBO's coworker that volunteers and has a plane was competing, and just realized we never got the results. It was hot, we were done.
This was part of the contest. Not sure he ever hovered but he definitely was able to stall it out for a bit. They had a 300' level for the contest, quite a few tries this guy was well above that but dove in afterwards. He let me sit in it, it's a two-seater (2nd in the back) and the front seat was fairly comfy if compact. Controls were more helicopter-like.
Today was another troop at the Air Force Museum, Rocket Day. With the weather, most of it was indoors but I heard they did manage to launch a few during the day.
Pretty steady crowd, I figured it could go either way: either no one comes out in the rain, or everything is rained out/no power so they all show up. Found out the Ohio Renaissance Festival was closed for no power (and damage) so some people came here instead.
I lost power Friday at 430pm, and kept checking the garage door opener app on my phone. Off-line the whole day, crap. Well at least I had something to do. Went to SWMBO afterwards for a shower and dinner, she lives 4 miles away.
Decided to do the ISB officer, haven't worn it here yet, and helped with getting photos. Next weekend is our first Halloween themed event, outdoors, and need to decide on costume or maybe handler again.
Yesterday was the beginning of Halloween troops, Huber Haunts something something (it had a really long name) in Huber Heights. I was planning to be a handler again (like the last 2 years), especially with the 86F clear skies, but remembered it was the 6 year anniversary of my first troop. So I went with the stormtrooper and someone else offered to handle.
Glad I did, it was fairly crowded and the kids loved us. This is their 3rd year and I'm glad to see it growing, plenty of free candy and stuff to do for local kids. Huber isn't exactly a wealthy part of town. We only had 2 other costume characters though, a biker scout and a friend that did Mara Jade. She ended up leaving early, she wasn't doing well in the heat and had surgery about a year ago on her intestines that have made it challenging.
Skyline Chili was there again giving out free food and coupons. I needed a photo with the coney guy after my recent ER visit, but how can I stay mad at him? ;^)
Spent a few days at Niagara Falls in Canada and met up with a local Garrison member and his wife for dinner and swag trade. Zappi's Pizza came highly recommended and did not disappoint. I had the stuffed banana peppers and holy crap it was good.
Last night was the annual Ghostly Night Out in Brookville. I love this troop, it's fun with the kids and a local member always has a great pot luck dinner beforehand. I had my drag race event but left early to do this. With the busy schedule I opted to be a handler for this one again. (Did the same last year after my denture surgery, gives me a chance to play with photos.)
For once it was finally great weather, zero rain, a little cool after sunset but not terrible. I was surprised to see the crowd die off around 830pm, event ended at 930pm I believe. Oh well, we stuck it out until I realized me & a few costumers were the only ones left. We went back inside, ate more food and general chit chat until I made the loud Midwestern goodbye of groaning and standing up saying "well I think I'm heading out". :)
Someone said we should get a photo of Vader by a fire & it turned into 5-6 members all wanting photos. We're kids at heart.
Saturday one of our members organized a photo shoot at a local park. She asked for as many jawas as possible, someone else offered to take photos so I wore mine. I also brought Monster Mouse with me, and it was a hit. I only planned to get a photo or two with it, but everyone kept asking to include it so we used it a lot.
One of members is autistic and he came with his dad (also a member, who was dressing), he seemed pretty interested in it. So after I had a little fun with it (including driving over to someone else's RC truck like a dog), I gave him the controller and said have fun. He only flipped it once, which is pretty remarkable considering how top heavy it is.
We ended up getting quite a few good photos in about 2hrs, here's a few good ones. I might have to go back with another costume sometime, Oak Creek Rock Quarry park or something similar, in Fairborn.
Busy day yesterday. First up was the Veteran's Day parade at the veteran's cemetery in Dayton, only had 3 characters but we were still popular with the kids (and adults of course). We did have a Vader, he's a doctor that works there (and other VA facilities around the area) so that was fun.
That's him giving us the peace sign. Changing at the car can be a challenge and for a Vader it's definitely challenging. I went with the officer and just dressed at home.
Then after a few hours rest and a costume change (again it was easier to do it at home) I went to the Christmas Tree Lighting festival and parade at Austin Landing in Miamisburg. We had a 5 for this one including the TIE pilot above, he changed costumes as well. We used to walk in this parade but about 2 years ago they completely berkeleyed up the route and didn't tell us, next thing we knew we were walking in traffic. We stopped after that.
This year the local Jeep club (that we already knew a few members that have Star Wars theme Jeeps) asked if we wanted to ride in their Jeeps instead? I used to love this parade, lots of kids, short route, about 10 miles away, so I said yes.
I'm in the Jeep in the center, I can tell by my red light saber lol. The other characters got to stand up, my Jeep had too much electronic stuff in the way. But I was able to smack the light saber against the roll bar and make it flash colors, so that was fun. Plus it was completely open so people could see me at least.
At the end most of the Jeeps parked on a side street in the complex and we stuck around for 30-45 minutes for photos with the kids. Being on the side street was nice because we had a good crowd but it wasn't 1K people trying to get photos at once. My light saber was dying at the end anyway, so we called it. I was still home by about 815pm for hot chocolate and a blanket.
Saturday morning I drove my ass to West Jefferson for a visit to hospice for a gentleman going through some E36 M3. Apparently he's a big fan and knows all the lines but has become non-communicative now. The caretaker of the facility's wife works with Make A Wish so she knows us & requested a visit.
There wasn't much we could do, he didn't respond to Vader's many prompts and lines, but the people there said we were amazing. They brought about a dozen other residents into a lunchroom and we got a photo with them & interacted as much as we could. Took a lap around the facility, but after about 45min we called it.
The hospital vists haven't been as profilic so I'll take whatever I can get. I was still home at noon and ready to play D&D with friends until about 1230am. Made for a long day.
This past weekend was a busy one. Galaxycon in Columbus, we went for Saturday and Sunday. I wasn't feeling that great, still had chest congestion from a cold after almost two weeks (and apparently not the only one), but I wanted an autograph from this long-haired guy. I didn't get to get one after the concert in 2019 so I made it happen Saturday. Stood in line in costume for about 45 minutes, which was funny, and that evening learned my exhibitor badge would have gotten me VIP line access. D'oh!
He signed the inside of my helmet, now I need to decide what would protect the Sharpie the best. I'm leaning towards some clear packing tape. I did learn from him and his manager that he will be calling us up for his tour next year! If I don't make the cut to be on stage this time, I'd be happy to be a handler/photographer/backup/whatever so I can still join the fun.
By the time I left the con Saturday at 8pm I was wiped out. I heard we might have had 50K visitors during the day, and I believe it. Very crowded and our booth space was pretty amazing. Archway into the area, multiple animatronic characters and droids, Han in carbonite, speeder bike, the works. Sunday we just did a 2hr information booth stint and left.
We also had a photo op with Anakin Skywalker with a few minor costumes. I might post a few more photos later when more roll in and I'm feeling better.
Jerry said:
I LOVE this photo!
Yesterday was our traditional laying of wreathes at the Veteran's Cemetery in Dayton. Mid 40s and sunny by the time we started at noon so the weather definitely cooperated this year. They had like 5K+ wreathes to put out but a good number of volunteers. The cleanup next month is when they struggle (& likely 5F and windy).
I brought my 2 wheel cart like a dummy thinking about the cleanup, laying is usually 1 or maybe 2 items. But twice the people came over and said there was a large number of wreathes over in XYZ area that hadn't been touched. So I loaded up 10-12 on my cart and hauled them halfway across the area so people wouldn't have to keep walking back and forth. One of the main people actually thanked me saying that was a great idea. So it was a happy mistake.
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