Bloomington, IN
July 15, 2006
Story and Photos David Syczylo (Boba Binks)

BACK IN THE WHITE ARMOR!
On Saturday the members of the 501st Bloodfin Garrison of Indianapolis, Indiana, were invited to attend the Hallmark Stores Ornament Release party. There were two locations in and around Indianapolis that the Bloodfin members could participate in; one on the north side of Indy and the other about 45 minutes south of Indy in Bloomington, the home of Indiana University.

The Ornaments that are offered for 2006 are:

• Luke Skywalker and Yoda from the Empire Strikes Back.
• Asajj Ventress, Anakin Skywalker, & Yoda from the Clone Wars.
• Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi from Revenge of the Sith with lights and sound.
• Imperial AT-AT and Rebel Snowspeeder with sound.

I chose to attend the event in Bloomington, Indiana. Originally there were supposed to be seven members in costume. Unfortunately only three of us made: Brian R Brosmer (BH 2559) who dressed as a Sandperson, Chris T Hiett (BH 5379) as Jango Fett, and myself D. J. Syczylo (TK 3778/Boba Binks) in my Stormtrooper armor (I know I do not have Sandtrooper armor, yet... With us was D. Hiett who was our support and cameraperson.

The three of us walked around the store and outside in front of the store waving people in and to those of who were driving past. Lots of people were happy and excited to see us as we walked around talking and interacting with the people. Several people came back to have pictures taken with us. One of the cool things about walking around and interacting with the people were the children. One kid was scared but as I waved to him and his father said it was ok that I was not going to get him he came up to me and we exchanged high-fives. The kid was really happy and is no longer scared of at least one Stormtrooper.

Many people stopped and asked if they could have pictures taken with us. Of course we said yes. It is all part of the fun. Several college kids were having fun  and I think we gave them something to remember on a hot summer afternoon in a small college-based town.

The Hallmark Store was very kind to us for showing up and participating in the event. They had food and drinks for us and for all of our effort we each received a FREE Star Wars ornament of our choice. Of course all of us chose the AT-AT walker ornament while others of us purchased the other ornaments as well.

This was my first event in armor since 2002. It is great to be back with the Imperials since those pesky Rebels do not know how to have any fun. This will be one of many costumed events to come. The pictures shown are from my digital camera.

PHOTO GALLERY
To see the photo gallery containing 28 photos click here.