Prospective padawans living in Leesburg recently took a trip to a galaxy far, far away.
They also learned how to wield the Force during the first-ever “Padawan Training: A Star Wars Adventure” event hosted at Leesburg Public Library on June 25. Training included four activities for Star Wars fans, including a trivia game, a craft space, a lightsaber-building class and a photo opportunity. Guests were encouraged to dress up in their most interesting intergalactic fashion.
Attendees jumped at the chance to dress up as characters from the Star Wars universe, including Jedi Knights and Darth Vader.
Max Osenkarski attended the event with his 4-year-old daughter Mylie Osenkarski.
The daddy-daughter duo both dressed as Jedi, with Mylie going with the classic Jedi robes from the prequels and Max choosing to rock the more contemporary Jedi look from “A New Hope.”
“We normally come to the (Leesburg Library) and I saw the fliers for the event one day,” Max said. “Today, I was actually coming to return books, and then I remembered the event was today. We had to go home to get our costumes.”
Siblings Addison Kazimer, Rylee Kazimer and Maizee Kazimer, who are residents of Leesburg, were all dressed in their Star Wars attire.
“I’m dressed up as Rey,” Rylee explained. “She was the main character from the last three movies.”
The siblings all said they were excited to participate in the activities for the day.
Addison said she was most excited to create a new lightsaber and decorate crafts she could put up in her room. Rylee said she was most excited for the trivia and Maizee was most excited to show off her impressive Darth Vader costume.
Trainees were able to test their Star Wars knowledge during the trivia activity, which featured an easy Padawan level and a medium difficulty Master Level.
The top three teams were able to win Star Wars-themed Funko POP! figures, including a Storm Trooper, the Mandalorian and Saw Gerrera.
During the Padawan Level trivia, the room quickly filled with quiet chatter as teammates worked to discuss and decide the answers to 15 multiple-choice questions.
Leesburg librarian Robert Voyles, of Eustis, said he had a lot of fun coming up with the questions for the trivia based on different Star Wars mediums, including movies through the decades and the 2008 animated series.
“I was excited we got a lot of people to show up,” he said. “I like that a lot of people dressed up and got in the theme.”
Sarah Tremblay, library assistant and resident of Leesburg, graded all of the answers submitted by the different teams to determine the trivia winners for the Padawan Level.
“There were multiple 100%, so we had to do a tie-breaker,” Tremblay said.
Guests were posed the tie-breaking question: “What is the width of the Death Star?”
“The tie-breaker was the question with the most drastically different answers,” Tremblay said. “One person said 1,400 miles and one person said 12 miles, which was the closest to the right answer of 99 miles.”
Brothers Gabriel Allen, Elijah Allen and Levi Lester were all excited to participate in the trivia with their parents Christie and Patrick Allen.
Gabriel and Elijah said they are big fans of Star Wars.
Gabriel, who is 5, said he has multiple favorite Star Wars characters like Darth Vader and Captain Phasma.
Both brothers said they were excited to see Storm Troopers at the library.
The family ended up coming in second place in the trivia.
“I play Disney a lot, so I was able to help out,” said Levi, who explained he doesn’t watch Star Wars as much as his younger brothers.
Using materials such as a cardboard tube, adhesive foam, paint, plastic tubes and more, trainees were able to assemble their own unique lightsabers with adult assistance.
By the end of the class, there was a sea of red, blue, purple and green lightsabers.
Fans were able to take photos with the Star Wars characters, including full-costumed Storm Troopers asking for identification.
Timmy Boyle, of Ocala, is a member of the 501st Legion, a worldwide organization for Star Wars costumers.
Boyle said he enjoys the work because of the general positive interactions with the community and that he loves participating in library events.
“The kids are generally well behaved,” Boyle said. “We love to encourage the love of Star Wars because back in the day, Star Wars wasn’t that popular.”
With this being the first training for Republic peacekeeprs, staff at Leesburg Library said they feel the event was a success. The Leesburg Library estimates at least 130 people attended the event.
Courtney Gainer, Leesburg Library’s Youth Services library assistant, said she felt like having members of the 501st Legion attend and participate really put a finishing touch on the event.
The materials for the event were sponsored by the Friends of the Villages Library, a non-profit group supporting local libraries.
“Thanks to them we are able to have these amazing events,” Gainer said. “We feel like it was an overall success. We had people thanking us and telling us how great it was.”
Staff writer Brea Jones can be reached at 352-753-1119, ext. 5414, or brea.jones@thevillagesmedia.com.
