Let us start Amtgard earlier. It is reasonable.
With an official start time of 1-1:30 pm, people do not actually show up until 2-2:30 pm. Some of our members have to go to work at 3-4 pm, and it gets dark at 4-5 pm. We don't get to fight nearly enough.
Why don't we move the official time to 12? The slackers among us can still show up when they want to, and those that show up at noon will probably still stay till the end of the park day. Other parks are usually able to have ditching + two whole battlegames within the scope of one day. We could be one of those parks.