For a time tonight, Kibbe Park was the site of a medieval battle on Wednesday evening.
Members of a Combat Historia, a group of medieval reenactors who stage non-historical battles, met for the first time in Batavia.
The four men came from Batavia, Rochester, and Buffalo.
Eddie Grosskopf got both groups going after moving to Batavia from Florida.
"I started doing this back when I was 13, Grosskopf said. "Originally, I came out to a park and saw a bunch of kids hitting each other with foam weapons. I was gonna make fun of them at first, and then they offered for me to come out, and I've been doing it since then. When I moved up here, I was like, 'Wow, there's not a lot of this up here. I'm gonna sucker these people into doing this.'
Joining him at Kibbe Park on Wednesday evening were Darnell Johnson, from Rochester, Brandon Winchell, from Buffalo, and Andrew Stangl, from Wales.
The Rochester group currently has 12 members, and with some recruiting, Johnson expects it soon to have 20 members. The Buffalo group is about a month old and has 15 members.
While only four members turned out for the first Kibbe Park meeting, Grosskopf said the goal is to use the park as a place for members of both the Buffalo and Rochester groups to meet each Wednesday, and he expects participation to grow.
The focus of the two groups is on the medieval Mongol Empire -- the time of Genghis Khan, the conquest of China, the conquest of the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.
Stangl said Grosskopf kept after him to join after he came across the group at a ComicCon, and since he's been practicing martial arts since he was six, it seemed like a good fit for his interests.
Johnson said it's about more than just reenacting battles. There is a historical aspect, too, that is fascinating.
"You see the clothing that we wear," Johnson said. "It is representative of Mongol clothing. This is typical Asiatic steps armor. So I had to go through the process of learning what type of armor they use, the different lanyard patterns and how to actually make it and then source the material and then build this whole thing myself."
Grosskopf said Combat Historia offers a fun activity, a chance to learn and a community. Since the local groups are affiliated with the national non-profit Combat Historia, the group also does charitable community work.
To join, he can be reached at 585-664-4461, or the group can be found on Facebook.
Photos by Howard Owens.
Photo by Howard Owens.
