14th Annual Jousting Tournament and Craft Faire

Steeped in more than 400 years of tradition, both St. Margaret's Episcopal Church and jousting, the official sport of Maryland since 1962, give back in ways that strengthen community and family bonds.

St. Margaret's has been a fixture on the Broadneck Peninsula for hundreds of years, since the days when families with farms and plantations first began to organize meetings and donate land to form the basis of the church grounds. 

The late Mack Ridout’s family was one of those founding families, even having an ancestor serve as Rector for 40 years during the 1800s.

Peter Mayer, the current Rector of St. Margaret’s, recalls absorbing all that he could from Mack Ridout during the seven months he knew him before he passed away in April of this year.  “Mack was a historian of Broadneck Peninsula and of St. Margaret’s,” said Mayer. 

Ridout was an integral part in making jousting the state sport, and in reviving the St. Margaret's festival. This year’s tournament was held in his honor.

Mack Ridout’s daughter, Barbara Ridout Phillips, led the “Charge to the Knights” opening ceremony with remembrance of her father’s love of jousting. 

“Among all the beautiful creations, Dad is with us here today. Ride safe, ride true and be good sportsman, win or lose,” she said.

As one of the oldest equestrian sports in the world, jousting evolved from a form of battle in the Middle Ages to the skilled art form it is today, combining pageantry with precision horsemanship, speed, and accuracy.

The object of jousting is to gallop your horse down a track and spear small rings with a lance in nine seconds or less (except for the Novice Class). The track is 80 yards long with three arches suspending various sized rings 6 feet 9 inches from the ground. 

The size of the rings are determined by the skill class in which a participant competes (novice-1 ¾ inches, amateur-1 ½ inches, semi-pro-1 ¼ inches, pro-1 inch and trophy ½ inch). Tie breaker rounds reduce the size of rings incrementally.  The smallest ring size is ¼ inch which Jackie Rosenthal, Secretary of the Maryland Jousting Tournament Association, described to be about the size of a Life Saver.

There are no age limits in jousting. Only your level of commitment to practice and train your horse which can take three to five years as it takes intense cooperation and communication between the rider and horse. There is no specific breed of horse is used in jousting, but ponies, Tennessee Walkers, Quarter Horses, Paints, and Arabians are commonly used. Saddles are also left up to the rider’s preference.

Participants in jousting not only compete physically with leg strength, balance, and steadiness, but they learn commitment as they compete to earn points in order to move up in skill classes during the roughly nine-month jousting season. It is not uncommon for jousting to run in the family over generations or among members of the same farm.

As a family friendly event, there was also an artisan’s market that featured 25 vendors including jewelry makers, hand painted candle lanterns, soaps, and ceramics. 

Co-chairwoman, Anne Sessions, said in addition to the craft vendors that participated, there were four non-profit organizations who support local charities. Proceeds from the event will go to benefit community organizations, including the Light House Homeless Prevention Support Center and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Food could be purchased in the air-conditioned dining hall, and kids had a designated fun zone with pony rides, a moon bounce, and a dunk tank.

Kim Spence of Arnold brought her kids, as well as, out-of-town guests to the event. 

“I enjoyed the nice assortment of vendors. They had Japanese name writing, juvenile art and a lot of hand-sewn items,” she said.

The end of season state championships will be held at the Anne Arundel Fairgrounds in Crownsville on October 1 during the Fall Craft Fair.

Winners of the tournament included:

Novice Class

• 1st: Mikayla Miller, Maid of Newcastle
• 2nd: Emily Trawick, Maid of Port Republic
• 3rd: Morgan Williams, Maid of Mr. Ed
• 4th: Caitlin Adams, Maid of Pretzel Stix

Amateur Class

• 1st: Malcolm Macy, Knight of the Meadows
• 2nd: Lily Fisher Flaherty, Maid of Tynewydd
• 3rd: Marley Enfield, Maid of Enfield Farm
• 4th: Caitlin Adams, Maid of Pretzel Stix

Semi-Pro Class

• 1st: Lily Fisher Flaherty, Maid of Tynewydd
• 2nd: Malcolm Macy, Knight of the Meadows
• 3rd: Mason Platzke, Knight of Turn Around Farm
• 4th: Josh Weesner, Knight of Atlanta

Pro Class

• 1st: Bob Enfield, Knight of Sir Lancelot
• 2nd: Ken Enfield, Knight of Excalibur
• 3rd: Ron Vogel, Knight of Sellners Farm
• 4th: Brad Enfield, Knight of Little Antietam

Trophy Class Champion

• Brad Enfield, Knight of Little Antietam. (With this win, Brad qualifies to compete in the state championship on October 1.)

If you are interested in learning more about jousting, call St. Margaret’s at 410-974-0200 as they are trying to coordinate a clinic in early 2012 under the auspices of the Maryland Jousting Tournament Association.