We Meet Again, At Last: Celebration Anaheim '22

For several of us, it had been years since we'd last been able to see one another in person. For that to finally be remedied this past May at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim was a small miracle given the continued pandemic state of the world. But it happened...for real!

Here's a quick photographic recap of the club's good times at the show from the friendly confines of booth #2777.

New Cali-themed postcards and matte finish buttons adapted from designs by our own Barth Paine and Tom Corrigan were handed out at the booth!

The club was also a participating member of a multi-group vintage Kenner themed patch set which, as always, was a huge hit among Celebration attendees. Our piece of the 8-character circular rim was none other than Boba Fett and visitors only needed to answer a very basic Star Wars trivia question (some of the best were the random "wrong answers only" wild cards) to snag their bounty. 

Those that were dedicated enough to track down all of the individual border pieces were rewarded with an impressive center piece featuring Luke facing the Rancor (Gamorrean Guard in-claw ready to crunch). But that was a tall order -- all of the center piece prizes were gone by sometime on Sunday morning, leaving the convention's patch collectors to trade amongst themselves to find their missing pieces among the sea of orphaned patches.

 

Booth volunteers were also granted the beautiful bonus of a rare Rancor Keeper corner piece for their service.

Dora Huber presents the fully set up booth on the morning the show starts. You may notice the glorious FX-7 display she's calling attention to...

This year, the club took part with several other clubs in an extremely challenging collecting hunt for a set of 15 "Fill Echo Base" medallions. This project was developed and finished back before the "Dark Times" of COVID when Celebration was initially slated for August 2020 (as seen on the reverse side text). CAVSWCC members Justin Vidal, Mark Huber, Ryan Savas and Darren Gin all co-sponsored the FX-7 medallion.

But FX-7 was no easy medical droid to come by. Booth visitors had to stop by at a handful of select times over the course of the show to play "Watto's Chance Cube Challenge" for a shot at one of the limited quantity of medallions available. The rules were simple: pick a color (red or blue), roll the dice, and let chance decide (no funny business).

Game masters Mark Huber and Darren Gin brought happiness and despair to many a contestant who tried their luck, and could easily pitch a similar gameshow. 

Darren marks the collector card for a lucky winner.

By the last round on Sunday, Watto (along with everyone else) was utterly spent. Check out this post in the club's Facebook group for some video of the action!

Celebration was a weekend of many reunions and reconnections from all angles of the collecting hobby and Star Wars fandom. Just prior to the show, my mom had dug out my old Celebration II t-shirt last worn twenty years ago in Indianapolis when we attended that convention together. By chance, a fan named Halley Sanchez was wearing the very same shirt when she and her mom visited the club's booth in Anaheim. We both immediately recognized the matching shirts and as it turns out, she had gone to Celebration II in Indy with her mom at age 16 just like I did. It was such a fun coincidence running into one another and reminiscing about being in a similar place with our awesome moms two decades (!) prior. (Thanks for the photo, Halley!)

Original CAVSWCC founder and current New Yorker Skye Paine made the trip west with his two kids for their very first Celebration. Their coordinated Jar Jar jumpsuit cosplay ensemble was understandably a popular photo op for passers-by. Getting to see them sign the club's flag along with our 2 year-old at the same time after all of these years was an enormously joyful and emotional moment for us both.

The kids were among several making their first marks during a group photo session organized by Will Grief. Above, Elon Bartlett scouts for a signature spot.

Marc Deckter finally adds his name to the flag after several years of club membership as others look on and socialize.

Here's another great group shot taken by friend of the club Omar Marshall. Our daughter wasn't feeling quite camera ready for this one. Though we were missing a few faces for the photo, seeing so many of them throughout Celebration was such a welcome gift. 

The shutdown crew of Mark and Dora Huber, myself, Tom Corrigan, and Darren Gin pose for one last shot as the lights were turned off in the convention center. Thanks so much to everyone that contributed to the club's amazingly successful and fun experience this year, and especially to Mark Huber for a significantly increased coordination effort for the booth. We could not have done it without all of you.

Until next time... (give us another year or two, please!)

--Stephen

Celebration Anaheim 2015 Briefing

At long last, Star Wars Celebration is returning to sunny Southern California from April 16th-19th. For the first time ever, CAVSWCC will not only be in existence for a Celebration taking place in our home state, but we'll have an official presence at the convention. With so much in store for the club, I wanted to lay out a briefing of sorts so that members can get an idea of what to expect and how they can participate.


FAN CLUB TABLE

The club will have an official booth/table set up in the Main Exhibit Hall of the Convention Center (Booth #1065) that is required to be staffed by at least one club representative from 10:00am to 7:00pm each day during the show (aside from Sunday, which will wrap up around 5:00pm). This is a great opportunity for major outreach to fans and collectors both local to the Southern California area and throughout the state (and world!). Visitors will be able to receive printed information about the club, join our mailing list and Facebook group, as well as take home some unique CAVSWCC swag (detailed below).

I plan on manning the booth for a significant portion of the show, but will certainly need some volunteers to provide coverage whenever they're available, and particularly at crucial times where I'm required to be elsewhere. It would be great to have some folks available as back-ups as well. I'll be posting a schedule to the Facebook group and via email which will be finalized once the Celebration schedules have been released. That way, volunteers can be sure to sign up for shifts that do not conflict with panels, screenings, and other events that they don't want to miss.

CAVSWCC SWAG

T-SHIRTS
New CAVSWCC t-shirts will be available for members and other fellow collectors (while supplies last) for $10 each and ideally paid for in advance (details will be sent via the club emailing list and Facebook group). Fan Table Volunteers should be receiving their shirt upon their first shift at the booth. The shirts for remaining members will be distributed at the Dinner & Pub Night gathering on Saturday April 18th (details below).



A selection of exclusive giveaways will be available to hand out to the general public at the booth throughout the course of the show (or as long as supplies last). The following images are mock-ups and subject to change.

STICKERS
2.75" x 3.75" full color, high gloss stickers featuring the club flag designed by club member Barth Paine will be available to all.

BUTTONS
1.25" diameter buttons inspired by Barth's original logo and designed by club member Ryan Savas will be available to all.

PATCHES
A limited number of 2.8" x 4" patches of the club flag will be available to current club members, new members that join during Celebration, and other fellow collectors (while supplies last). 




COLLECTOR CLUBS BOUNTY HUNTER PATCH SET

A set of exclusive interlocking Collector Club patches has become a long-running tradition for Celebrations. This year, Bill Cable (of CreatureCantina.com) has designed a killer set of patches based on vintage Kenner figures, which are being manufactured through fellow Californian Mike Kurtz. Each participating club will represent one of the six bounty hunters. Through random draw, CAVSWCC got IG-88. Each club will have 1,000 of their individual patches to hand out to Celebration attendees at their club tables. CAVSWCC will be distributing 250 per day from our booth (1 piece per visitor). For those members who purchased sets of the patches in the fundraising effort, be sure to stop by the booth and see me to pick them up!

CAVSWCC DINNER & PUB NIGHT

On the night of Saturday April 18th, the club will have an informal after hours dinner/pub get together. As for the time, I'm imagining meeting up sometime around 8pm, depending on how the day is wrapping up back at the convention center. As for the location, the top choice as of this posting is looking like Lazy Dog, which is a short drive down the road from the convention center and Anaheim Hilton. They have a diverse menu, plenty of beers on tap, and a nice outdoor seating area if the weather agrees with us (which it likely will). This will also be the time and place to pick up your CAVSWCC t-shirts.

This is going to be a great four days and I'm really looking forward to seeing many old friends as well as making many new ones. Hopefully we'll be able to welcome some new members to the ranks as well!

--Steve