By Bixyl Shuftab
Saturday
May 6 was the day of the Relay for Life's Team Sunbeamer's Medieval Fun
Faire. At Caledon Downs, from 9AM to 5PM, people could take part in
activities such as archery, axe tossing, kissing booths, racing horses
over an obstacle course, and jousting. There was also a "jail and bail"
with team captain Rita Mariner as the appointed sheriff.
The event was organized by Cynthia Farshore, who only the week before had done the Sunbeamer and Roos Air Show.
There
were more than a few jokes among those showing up. Of the hatching
throwing contest, "Well, you 'axed' for it, Cuz." "Not a real problem. I
have, a 'handle' on it." Also there were a few from team "Roos With A
Dream," one commenting, "Yea we can get a little vulgar, but ya know,
when you live in a place where even the sun is trying to kill you, you
gotta learn to laugh at things."
There
was a contest at the archery shoot, with the prize being a special
bow. The winner was Nephilim Ventris.
Of the jousting tournament, several took part including Liska and
Ginger. The winner of the jousting tournament was Jeff Keith (Redshirt Zepp), getting a 1000L prize. He also won the axe throwing competition, the latter which got him a special axe as a prize. Cynthia would also tell me, "Skysong (sgudeman Resident) won the horse jump competition prize of L$1000."
As for the Jail and Bail, everyone must have been
on their best behavior as the stocks were empty that day.
Just a few minutes before 3PM, I saw a balloon floating over, It was DJ Kakya and more of the 'Roos team."We'd like to thank the Sunbeamers for letting us be part of another fun event!" one shouted after they landed. And before long, they were on stage dancing away, with those in the audience dancing as well.
The
donations soon started, "Okay, everyone, here is our first challenge
tonight. When the kiosk reaches 10,000, Roos will add 5,000." Someone
mused, "10,000 Roos? How much is that in Lindens?" There were also a few
comments about Australia being founded in part by penal colonies, one
American commenting, "Our country wasn't founded by convicts, but the
crooks are running it now."
But
the comments soon turned to the main issue, "The Roos' 'dream' is of a
world where cancer has been ended as a concerning health issue. In this
world: - the words "You have cancer" no longer strike FEAR in people's
hearts... - the treatments for cancer cause no PAIN.. - care is not
EXHAUSTING for loved ones...- and the GRIEF of losing our family and
friends before their time is a thing of the past. We’d like to enlist
your support in making this dream come true sooner rather than later so
more people will be spared the agony of dealing with cancer."
People
started chipping in. And at one point, a dragon showed up to hover.
Cynthia warned him, "Uuuhh, just a warning, your butt is right on top of
the fireworks launcher." So he landed nearby and joined in the dancing.
At one point the talk turned to a planned music video of "Cheeseburgers in Paradise" that was never made. Kalya commented, "By the way Aussie cheeseburger recipe!, get out your pens to make notes : 1 hotdog roll sliced down the middle, enough tomato to cover lengthwise, a slice of shaved ham, some onion rings, again lengthwise! 4 slices of cheddar cheese, lay that on top of the rest, salt and petter to taste, then put the cover on, put in sandwich machine and cook! ... Anyway that's the cheese burger I know." "No burger in your cheeseburger?" someone asked. "That is how its done in Oz !" the DJ responded. "Ummm, that's called a Ham and Cheese Kayla."
The donations kept coming and coming, and at one point Cynthia looked at the total, and did a fainting gesture, "Dang been in so much IM and WHAT!!!!" Shockwave responded, "Okay which one of you keeps fainting my goat?!"
As the event got closer to the end, fireworks went off, better visible with one's viewer at Midnight.
Of the kiosks around the rest of the festival grounds, the money donated into them added up to 17,570 Lindens. But the lion's share was done at the concert kiosk. A whopping amount of over 150K ended up in the stage kiosks thanks in part to the remote donations. When word got out the teams were getting close to leveling, still more came and it was enough to send them over the edge.
A total of 170,826 Linden dollars was raised between the Sunbeamers and Roos, the
Sunnies making 94,198 L and the Roos getting 76,628
Lindens. This bumped the Sunbeamers to over 750K, and making Sapphire rank,
and Roos With a Dream past a half million and into Jade.
Before leaving, one of the Roos would say, "We love doing these events with Sunbeamers and we love the support of you all just being here!"
Cynthia would later post on Discord an after-action report.
Well
as the Sunbeamer Medieval Fun Fair went, it was fun however the fair
was a little weak in attendance but did just a tad better in donations.
Together with the Roos it came out Roos gained L$76,628 and Sunbeamers
got L$94,198 for a two team total of L$170,826. Thus the Roos made Jade
and the Sunbeamers crossed the Sapphire line. oh well maybe we'll do
better next year.
Still, the event did get both teams a lot of cash. As of the writing of this article, the Sunbeamers are ninth of 173 teams on the totals page (leaving out the Sci-Fi Expo, which isn't really a team). The Roos were bumped up to number fifteen.
And this is far from the end of the Sunbeamer's efforts. There's still one more Bid Me event to donate to (more on that later), the team's participation at the Relaystock. And of course there's the Relay Weekend next month.
Go Sunbeamers! Go Roos! Go Relay!
Bixyl Shuftan
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