Boy Scouts cancel ‘Star Wars’ event after schools set restrictions

WOODBRIDGE — A Star Wars event at Freedom High School put on by Boy Scout Troop 501 has been abruptly canceled, following reports that the high school told the troop they could not have full access to the gymnasium, despite a previous agreement.

The event, Star Wars Days, was scheduled for December 1 and 2 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Freedom High School gymnasium.

“We’re shocked by all of this,” Justin Youtz, Scout Master for Troop 501, told Potomac Local.

The troop had the event approved through SchoolDude, a school facility software program, months ago, Youtz said. They then got a temporary occupancy permit through the county specifically for the event at the dates and times agreed upon.

The agreement was that Star Wars Days could start setting up in the gym Friday evening and continue early Saturday morning. “It takes us about seven hours to set up the whole show,” said Youtz.

But on Wednesday morning, event organizers received a message from Steve Bryson, director of student activities and athletics at Freedom High School, informing them that Star Wars Days could only have access to partially load at an auxiliary gym Friday night. They were also told that the school’s girls’ and boys’ basketball teams would both need to practice in the gym Saturday morning, and that the football team would need to use the gym until noon.

“I tried to explain to him that this is not reasonable and we can’t hold the event under these circumstances,” said Youtz. “But Bryson told us, ‘I have to make the decision that is best for our athletes.’”

The Star Wars Day website event schedule has activities starting at 10:30 a.m., including lightsaber building and Mandolorian armor building at 11:30 a.m.

Youtz said his wife, Shari, called the principal to discuss the situation, but received no response. After that they made the decision to cancel the event.

“We had to make that call, because we were still spending money for advertising, materials, and we had to notify our vendors, some of whom would be traveling from out of state,” Youtz explained.

“We are devastated by the unilateral action of school administrators that made it impossible for our event to continue as planned,” Star Wars Days wrote in a Facebook status on November 29.

Star Wars Days is a convention featuring artists, toys, collectibles, anime, sci-fi, fantasy, children’s activities, cub scout activities, Boy Scout merit badge opportunities, costume contests, photo ops and more. Proceeds go to support local Boy Scouts. This would have been the fourth Star Wars Days event.

The events have been successful in the past. In 2017, Troop 501 held the event at Woodbridge Senior High School, and 2016’s event was held at Gar-Field Senior High School. The first Star Wars Days in 2015 was held at Freedom High School, and went off without a hitch.

Diana Gulotta, director of communications services for Prince William County Public Schools, told Potomac Local that Freedom High School did not cancel the Star Wars event, and in fact, was still open to hosting the event.

“The Freedom High School football team is competing in the state semi-final on Saturday, and some of the preparation for that requires use of the gym,” Gulotta said. “Freedom High School did not cancel the Star Wars event. In fact, we have reached out multiple times to the event coordinator to work on a compromise that would allow the event to be held in alternate locations in the building. Unfortunately, as of today, our calls have not been returned. We would still like to host the event.”

“We cannot move our event to another location, unfortunately,” Star Wars Days told event supporters in a Facebook status. “We have a permit approved in advance by county fire (subject to inspection at the event) and police for this location at these dates and times, only.”

Those who bought tickets in advance are reportedly receiving full refunds, but the event organizers said the troop would lose significant funds from the canceled event.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen moving forward,” Youtz said. “We put a lot of money into the event, our vendors are going to lose their business as well. The future of this event and our Troop is unknown,” the Star Wars Days website reads. “We have incurred a large amount of expenses in preparation for this show and as this is our annual fundraiser, we now have no operating funds for 2019.”