Knights to remember: Lovers of medieval times converge on Cooks Creek as historical festival gets underway

Posted on July 27, 2024 by Peggy

The Cooks Creek Medieval Festival is back for the first time in six years, drawing aficionados of the Middle Ages from around the world to Manitoba.

The event is held in the community of Cooks Creek, Man. which is about 30 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. It’s the biannual-annual festival’s first comeback since 2018.

The Middle Ages-themed gathering sports attractions like live jousting, archery and heavy-armour combat, as well as a full-on feast.

It also draws enthusiasts from across Manitoba, including Dauphin and Gimli, according to lead organizer Gary Senft.

“There’s a whole host of different folks coming to make this a really special event, and the enthusiasm is very strong,” Senft told host Marcy Markusa in a Friday interview with CBC Manitoba’s Information Radio.

Jousting is a medieval style of duel where two armoured knights on horseback attempt to knock each other from their saddles using blunt lances.

“If you hit the shield, but nothing breaks, you get one point. If you break the tip, you get three points. And if you break the whole lance, that’s five points,” said Oliver Hunter-Holland.

Hunter-Holland, who travelled to Manitoba from Australia to take part in the festival for the first time, said his father had a hand in the modern resurgence of the sport back home nearly three decades ago.

“I didn’t really have a choice in this, it was more just I was born into it,” he said.

‘There’s so much history’

Television shows like House of the Dragon have boosted interest in jousting and medieval festivals in recent years, he said.

“It’s been a real drive from that audience to sort of go: ‘Hey, this is something that’s really interesting to me. I want to go see this live.'”

Information Radio – MB11:15Jouster to compete at Cooks Creek Medieval Festival

Olivier Thomas Hunter-Holland speaks with Marcy Markusa about how he started jousting and what some of his wildest injuries have been from being knocked off of his horse

Alice Edwards, a jouster hailing from Alberta, is no stranger to to the Cooks Creek festival. Edwards said she’s been coming to it before she even started jousting, and rode in one of her first-ever shows there.

“There’s a lot of history for me here,” said Edwards.

A woman gears up for a joust. — Alberta’s Alice Edwards, who jousts, said there’s nothing like being in armour and riding a horse. (CBC)

Edwards said she’s been riding horses for about a decade and learned how just to be able to joust. Some of the best parts of the sport are being on the horse and wearing armour while competing, Edwards said.

“I’ve been a history buff since I was a kid,” said Edwards. “So getting to sword-fight was one thing but getting out there and riding a horse and doing this sport that was a thing for more than 500 years, that went against the church at the time, it was outlawed for 300 years.”

“There’s so much history behind it, it’s so much fun,” said Edwards. “It’s not something a lot of people in the world do and it’s not something a lot of people in the world get to do.”

That sentiment was echoed by Jaakko Nuotio who has been jousting for 35 years and travelled from Finland to be part of the Manitoba event. Aside from the competition, Nuotio said it was also nice to reconnect with old friends.

While Nuotio had been looking forward to facing some of them in duels, he suffered an injury while training and needed 58 stitches in his head.