The Event

The first Katie Samson Lacrosse Festival began with a rainout followed two weeks later by a mini-fest with just 8 JV teams. Through the years, the fest has grown beyond our wildest dreams in both numbers and stature. For the 10th Annual Festival there will be a record 13 boys' and 14 girls' varsity games, 6 youth games, 2 alumni games, 20 vendors and 10,000 fans!

How do we measure our success? Over the last nine years the Katie Samson Lacrosse Foundation has distributed nearly $1,000,000 to charities supporting spinal cord injury research, care, and quality of life improvements. In our 10th year we will top that remarkable number. Each year, more teams have asked to be invited to play. More sponsors have stepped up with their support. More vendors have turned out to participate and attendance has swelled. While lacrosse is always front and center, the committment to support Katie and others is the epitome of a community rallying around one of its own and making a real difference in people's lives. We continue to be a grassroots effort where all participating teams support our volunteer efforts. Some work all day and some work 2 hours but we roughly translate this to 1,000 volunteer hours on game day.

KSF has been touched by not only the success of the festival but the committment to the KSF mission. The spirit of the Katie Samson Lacrosse Festival is powerful. It mirrors Katie's own spirit in her pursuit of well being for all people, whatever their challenges. So whether it is lacrosse, the wheelchair games, the funnel cakes or the mechanical bull, join us for a great day of competition and inspiration!

Event Highlights

26 premier boys' teams and 28 premier girls' teams playing regular season games.

Wheelchair rugby and basketball games.

7 fields running simultaneously from approximately 9am – 6pm

Print and TV media coverage

Over 50 major sponsors

2 FanZones, including Katie’s Kiddie Korner, rides, facepainting, BBQ, funnel cakes, raffle prizes, clothing, equipment, etc.

10,000+ attendees expected

$120,000 raised in 2009 and donated to charities.