Adventure awaits in Eagle Lake

Local bakery brings Live Action Role Play to Colorado County

Ever fought a pirate or defeated an enchantress before? Maybe in video games and card games, but what about real life?

Moonside Macaron, a bakery in Eagle Lake, held their very first Live Action Role Play (LARP) event for grades 7-12 at the Eagle Lake Community Park over the weekend, Aug. 3-4, completely free of charge.

Volunteers came together under the guidance of founder David Burkhalter to curate the first-time event, which spanned between two days and 24 hours from 12:00 p.m. Saturday to 12:00 p.m. Sunday, featuring a busy schedule for the kids.

Adventurers got to dive into the world of LARP fully, partaking in quests for in-game currency to spend at the shop, purchase weapons, armor, potions and other items to enhance their experiences.

The kids also got to camp overnight and engage in other activities, such as archery, capture the flag and battle games, throughout the two days.

Burkhalter says the reason he was motivated to bring an experience like this for the kids was his love for storytelling. He says the LARP event is heavily based on Dungeons and Dragons (DND), a Tabletop Role Playing trading card game, and combining the two aspects is a big reason as to why he got into doing this.

“I want to do something for kids I wish I had as a kid and experience their excitement as an adult,” said Burkhalter. “We have the power to bring joy into this world and why not live the life experiences we wanted through them.”

12-year-old Ellie Thompson, who had known about the event since last year, said she was looking forward to it because she plays a lot of DND at the bakery every Wednesday night. She says her favorite part above all, however, is the quality time she gets to spend.

“I play DND a lot, so this is really fun,” said Thompson. “I have been excited about this for a while. I have known about it since last year. My favorite part has been doing the quests and hanging out with my friends.”

Adventuring duo Everardo Holguin Jr. And Nathanial Hayner, participators in the LARP, said despite having a good time, the different quests tested them and were admittingly challenging.

“It’s challenging,” said the duo. “Because of all the stuff we had to find. We had to pick up three flowers, but when we picked them up, she gave us a task to find four potions. I feel like if we do the quests we will get more treasure. We ended up getting some diamonds and rubies, treasure chests we traded in for a gold coin.”

One of the things the adult volunteers were eager for the most according to Burkhalter was getting to have fun with the kids and let their inner kid out on full display. He says he is ecstatic to now have a dedicated pool of volunteers for the next edition who have experienced the fun of the event and are willing to come back again.

“Different volunteers,” said Burkhalter. “One of the big allures for the volunteers is they get to bonk kids. They’ll be wandering around the park, so they must hunt them down and fight them. Some of them will have special abilities or weapons where the kids will have to deal with.”

A group of volunteers, Irving Pena, Jessica Diaz and Joe Elizando confirmed Burkhalter’s thoughts, saying they were having a blast messing with the kids. Pena highlighted how much of a change of pace it was for him and Elizando, given that they are truck drivers, and says he is looking forward to an adult version despite never hearing of LARP or DND before.

“They said I get to fight with the kids legally, so I was all in,” said Pena. “But I got my butt kicked by a bunch of 10- and 12-yearolds, it was super fun though. This stuff does not happen here, I have never done anything like this, and I heard about it last minute and just got my costume today. I cannot wait for the adult version because I will sign up for that. With me and Joe being truck drivers, it really gives us a change of pace being a part of something as engaging as this.”

Burkhalter hopes that the success of the event can hold weight within the community and showcase to those that are skeptical that it is okay to enjoy and engage in activities that may seem a little bit outside of the box. He reminds the community that just because they are changing clothes for the night, does not mean they do not remember their roots.

“I think the kids inspired me the most,” said Burkhalter. “But there’s no way to separate the kids and the community. They’re one and the same, you must think about families as a unit, how do mom and dad feel about these things? Would they let their kids participate in these things? I don’t take weird as an offense it just means you’re different, you don’t fit in a mold or cookie cutter. I hope with Eagle Lake that it shows people that it’s okay to try things, we can do stuff that is outside of the box, we can do something a little funky. Country clothes during the day and rolling dice at night.”

The next Moonside Macaron LARP will be held next year in 2025, Jan. 5 through Jan. 6, with plans to be held biannually.