LANSING, MI – This past weekend I was invited out to cover a newer event in Central Michigan called The Summit.
This months event was their second ever event and featured a venue change for the organization. The new venue was quite impressive. Hosted at a Lansing area Hotel & Convention Center it provided great room options for those attending from out of town as well as plenty of room for classes, socialization, & play.
The attendance was impressive but not unexpected. The Lansing area has seen substantial growth in the past few years and the community definitely came out in support of this new event. There were also a number of people in attendance from the Detroit, Grand Rapids, & Mount Pleasant area who came to support not only the event but the evenings presenter.
For the evenings educational presentation the Summit arranged for Master Sar present his class on Knife Play. Master Sar, a former Michigan resident, recently taught this same class at GLLA. As a former President for the GRALE organization and founder of Whipstock, there were many in attendance who had heard of Master Sar and were looking forward to the oppertunity to meet him.
The class focused on the different kinds of knives and the uses in play as well as proper care of your knives. Master Sar provided demonstrations on his two demo bottoms. Safety concerns were also covered thoroughly during the class covering everything from prevention of passing on blood born pathogens to proper treating of any cuts made during play. At the end of the class the floor was open for questions where more advanced techniques were discussed such as scarification.
There was a short intermission before the play equipment was made avalible for those in attendance to enjoy. There were plenty of play stations set up for use and though there was a wait for some attendees before they could play, it seems that had more to do with the overwhelmingly large number in attendance rather than having anything to do with lack of equipment. Overall everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and those who wanted to play eventually got the chance to do so.
The evening was quite enjoyable and it was wonderful seeing a community coming together to support their educational event in full force. The number of people in attendance and how smooth the event ran was a testament to having a good staff in place, especially since this was the first event in this new venue and only the second one over all for the Summit.
If you have the oppertunity to attend any future Summit events I would highly recommend you doing so.
The next Summit event at the time of this writing will be December for more information visit their Fetlife Event Page or the Summit Group on Fetlife.
