Salt Lake Stabbity 2026 mixes rapier, relay and mixed steel bouts

Salt Lake Stabbity will turn Put It Up CrossFit in Orem into a three-format proving ground, with a rabbit-enhanced rapier tournament that puts speed, style and versatility on the same card. The draw is not just the weaponry, but the sequence: a smallsword team relay, an SCA-rules rapier tournament and then a mixed-steel finale that should tell the cleaner story about who can adapt when the tempo changes.

The event is set for Saturday, July 11, 2026, at 1774 S Sandhill Rd, Orem, UT 84058-7206, running from 10:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Admission for competitors is $20, spectators are free, and the listing says the program is tentative and subject to change. It is being presented as a collaboration between Wasatch HEMA, the Kingdom of Artemisia and Terrasylvae, with snacks on site and a Best Dressed Award chosen by the populace.

That format mix is what makes Salt Lake Stabbity stand out on a summer HEMA calendar crowded with standard single-weapon brackets. The relay should deliver the most immediate crowd energy, because team events compress decision-making and punish hesitation. The SCA-rules rapier segment shifts the focus toward a different adjacent fencing culture, one tied to persona, presentation and participatory event culture. The mixed-steel tournament then pulls the day back toward harder-contact HEMA fundamentals, rewarding fencers who can stay composed when the gear, pacing and risk profile change.

The collaboration also reflects how the Utah scene has grown by overlap rather than isolation. Wasatch HEMA has a branch club in Orem operating at Put It Up CrossFit, while Terrasylvae identifies itself as a historical combat and arts community in Farmington that has practiced rapier fencing since 1999. Terrasylvae’s rapier practice meets every Friday at 5:30 p.m. in Woodland Park, and the Kingdom of Artemisia covers Utah, Montana, southern Idaho and parts of Wyoming through the Society for Creative Anachronism.

That mix of organizers matters because unusual formats can do more than fill a bracket. They give cross-discipline fencers a reason to show up, create an event identity people remember, and make a smaller tournament feel bigger than its size. Salt Lake Stabbity is betting that a day built around relay speed, rapier polish and mixed-steel grit will travel farther than a routine open.