Hot Sword Summer 2026 adds five events in Gainesville move

Hot Sword Summer 2026 is moving into the Alachua County Sports & Events Center at Celebration Pointe, and the shift comes with a bigger competitive slate: five divisions instead of the usual narrow summer card. Scheduled for June 27-28 at 4870 Celebration Pointe Avenue in Gainesville, the event is built to serve both newer fencers and the experienced HEMA crowd with a mix of synthetic, steel, rapier, singlestick and sword-and-buckler bouts.

The Society of Historical Fencing says this year’s tournament has five total events, with Saturday set for rapier with optional offhand, singlestick and sword and buckler, then Sunday reserved for beginner longsword and open longsword. Event listing details say doors are expected to open around 8:00 a.m., with competition running to about 6:00 p.m. Saturday and 2:00 p.m. Sunday. The event is in person and marked with no refunds, and the listing notes only a few tickets remain.

The move to Celebration Pointe matters because the venue is built for a much larger footprint than a typical rec hall or gym. The Alachua County Sports & Events Center opened in June 2023 and offers 130,000 square feet of indoor space, including 90,000 square feet of open space and 3,500 spectator seats. That kind of layout should make the tournament easier to stage, easier to watch and easier to expand with vendors or side activities as the field grows.

It also fits the club’s fighting identity. Society of Historical Fencing trains in Gainesville and currently focuses on German longsword, British military saber and singlestick, and Italian rapier and saber. This year’s card reflects that background almost point for point, with beginner synthetic longsword giving new entrants a controlled lane and open steel longsword giving more experienced fencers the hard contact they came for.

The tournament’s growth has been steady. Hot Sword Summer 2025 expanded into a two-day event and drew more than 75 participants from across the country, while a local report put the number at 76 competitors at the Hal Brady Recreation Center in Alachua. That edition also included a beginner-specific event, so the new beginner longsword division is less of a departure than a continuation of a formula that has already worked.

With restaurants, hotels and retail within walking distance at Celebration Pointe and Butler Plaza, the new setup gives Hot Sword Summer a more polished tournament environment without losing the club-level feel that built it. The result is a card that should reward depth, weapon versatility and the ability to stay sharp across two days of fencing.