I mentioned earlier that listening and watching the rain inspired me to remember back to the first Star Wars Celebration. For the record, Celebration back in 1999 was plagued by three days of nothing but rain. At a traditional convention, inside a convention center, this would have no effect. Yet, Star Wars Celebration was a mixed venue. It was inside an aircraft hanger, now a local air museum and several large tents erected in a vacant field across from the museum’s small parking lot.
So, on my way to work, while spending Memorial Day weekend with of on-and-off again rain for three days, I make this assumption to myself that perhaps this is one of those rain storms that comes every ten years. It would make sense. Within a few weekends of the tenth anniversary of Celebration, we have this long weekend of rain. If that is the case, then this is good news as we need the rain as Colorado has been in a drought for the last few years. Although most that attended Celebration will complain and whine about the rain, I wouldn’t have changed that weekend a bit ten years ago. It made it memorable. Actually, I don’t have any major complaints for the event. Yes there was rain, massive lines and a poor venue, but I would trade any average weekend to go back. Thus, this brings me to the very few complaints I had. Those being:
1. The security. This would be my number one complaint. The security company hired for the event had only been hired a few days prior to the event. See, the original plan was not to have “security” per se. Instead it would be manned by volunteers and paid employees of the Fan Club. Yet, a few weeks prior our area was whacked with the Columbine tragedy and every one was fearful. Just like the Sith want. So, the Fan Club hired a security agency that actually works security at heavy metal concerts. So those punks were expecting the worse. They thought we’d all be drunk, high or carrying weapons. None of those things ever happened mind you. This is a geek festival not a biker gang reunion. I had my own run in with these jerks when they tried to confiscate my friend’s and I's lightsaber hilts. They were made from aluminum and looked like a lightsaber. Yet they interpreted these as weapons. --Only if I beat you with it! After arguing with these guys for about ten minutes and demanding a convention employee assist in the issue, they were told ease up on this one side of the weapon policy. And for the record, the weapon policy at this Celebration was much much more strict than at any other Celebration and we had Columbine to thank for that. Basically, no blasters of any kind were allowed at the Celebration. I'm thankful that didn't hold true for the other Celebrations. Enough of that.
2. Pepsi. Wow. Really, how could one complain about Pepsi. My wife has a heart condition and cannot have sodas with caffeine. Pepsi was one of the major sponsors of the event and of Star Wars that year. You couldn’t go from one corner of the convention to the other without being hit with advertising and samples. One of the Pepsi reps overheard my wife complain that Pepsi had no products with “no caffeine”. To which the rep became over protective of Pepsi and besieged my wife with statements that Pepsi had many “no caffeine” products. The issue my wife had was not Pepsi in general but the Pepsi products at Celebration as all of them were caffeinated versions. I guess they wanted us all alert and awake. Even a simple Sierra Mist selection would have been nice but nah-noooo!
3. And the third complaint was...was....ummm.... the Klingons. Yeah the Klingons that crashed the party on Sunday afternoon. I know this complaint cant be held accountable to the event promoters… or can it? Maybe they should have seen them coming and asked them to leave. Then again, it was funny to see how much Star Trek bashing they got. Now that I recall this, I think they were only around a few hours…mmm…I wonder why. Dorks!
So that was the worst parts of Celebration. The things that stick out most are walking through the Archives and seeing original models and props for the first time in my life, getting my picture taken with a life sized Darth Maul and a life sized Jar Jar, seeing Anakin’s podracer, seeing the life sized (sorta 2/3's scale) model of the X-wing for the first time, interacting with the fans, seeing panels with Ray Park and Warrick Davis, seeing a fan that had such a good Darth Maul costume on I thought it was Ray Park himself, sitting in the dining tent and eating a lunch of Pizza Hut and KFC in little con boxes and having Anthony Daniels walk the line and stop in front of me to chat for a few seconds.
Yes, that weekend holds true as one of the best of my life. Its only match would be the weekends of Celebration II, Celebration III and Celebration IV. Runner ups would be San Diego Comic Con and my trips to Disneyland and Disney World, but that's for another story later...
Denver Comic Con
