SwordFest comes schwinging back on March 7

Here they come again, descending in hordes upon Columbia. Pirates. Soldiers from past centuries. Martial arts fighters. Modern sport fencers. Medieval knights in full armor. Jedi knights from a whole other galaxy. Hear their battle cries, and the schwinging and clanging of their cold steel blades!

There are even kids whacking at each other with sabers made of foam. This can only mean one thing: SwordFest is back at the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum.

SwordFest 2026 is set for all day Saturday, March 7, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., and every minute of it is free.

There will be knights in armor, soldiers from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, pirates, martial arts experts, and modern sport fencers. They will be joined by re-enactors from throughout military history, and all sorts of related exhibits.

Some specifics as to what you’ll see:

• Iaido, the Art of Sword-Drawing. Dan Bernardo of WellWithin Martial Arts will demonstrate a traditional Japanese sword art, including a live cutting exhibition with a samurai sword.
• The Palmetto Knights Steel Combat Team look and sound pretty fierce in their full armor and chain mail. But don’t worry. They only attack each other – repeatedly.
• The Columbia Fencers’ Club will show that swordfighting isn’t something that only existed in the past. Behold the fast-moving modern sport of fencing!
• It’s not just about fighters. Rick Thompson is an expert in 18th-century blacksmithing techniques, and he’ll forge a new sword right before your eyes.
• Carolina Historical Fencing recreates the fighting techniques of past centuries with a variety of weapons.
• Cavalry Saber Historian Neil Rose will show how Wade Hampton’s cavalry employed the saber at Gettysburg.
• And yes, the Force will be with us. Watch a recreational form of swordplay inspired by the Star Wars universe. Yes, we’re talking lightsabers.
• The gaudily attired Charles Towne Few aren’t really pirates, but they look like them. They act like them, too, as they demonstrate the fighting style of the 17th century.
• Speaking of historical attire, the Society for Creative Anachronism will be there, according to Relic Room Curator of Education Joe Long, the impresario of all this commotion. With a name like that, there’s no telling what they might get up to.

And more. Much more. Don’t miss it. There’s a big parking lot in front of the Columbia Mills Building at 301 Gervais Street. But last year it was pretty full. So don’t be late!

About the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum

Founded in 1896, the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum is an accredited museum focusing on South Carolina’s distinguished martial tradition through the Revolutionary War, Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Vietnam, the War on Terror, and other American conflicts. It serves as the state’s military history museum by collecting, preserving, and exhibiting South Carolina’s military heritage from the colonial era to the present, and by providing superior educational experiences and programming. It recently opened a major new exhibit, “A War With No Front Lines: South Carolina and the Vietnam War, 1965-1973.” The museum is located at 301 Gervais St. in Columbia, sharing the Columbia Mills building with the State Museum. For more information, go to https://crr.sc.gov/.