Our own Dennis Keithly bumped elbows with Star Wars fans and fames at Rancho Obi-Wan’s annual gala.
If you are like me and you listen to many Star Wars podcasts, or if you visit many Star Wars fan sites, then you are most likely already familiar with Rancho Obi-Wan. This is the museum that houses the collection of Steve Sansweet, who serves as the museum’s president and CEO. Steve had formally served as Lucasfilm’s director of content management and head of fan relations. Over the years as a fan of Star Wars and a Lucasfilm Employee, Steve built what is today the world’s largest privately-owned Star Wars collection of memorabilia and artifacts. The museum has been made available for tours lead by Steve himself.
Housing such a large collection is not cheap. In order to cover the expenses of running and supporting the museum, Rancho Obi-Wan offers annual memberships. A membership is required in order for a group to secure a tour of the museum. As a benefit of membership, each year members are invited to purchase tickets and attend Rancho Obi-Wan’s annual gala event. After hearing glowing stories from last year’s gala, I put the event on my Star Wars bucket list.
When tickets went on sale this year, I discussed a potential West Coast vacation with my wife with this event as part of the itinerary. Fortunately, my wife has her own geek cred that can hold its own against anyone. Granted, her fandom leans more towards Star Trek and DC, while I am more of a Star Wars and Marvel fan. Despite that, she thought the event sounded like great fun, and with that we purchased our tickets.
The gala was the third day of our trip to Petaluma, California. On the evening of the event, we met up with other Star Wars fans that were headed to Rancho Obi-Wan as we waited for the shuttle to pick us up for the event. We discussed our various collections, and some of our new friends told us stories from previous events, which only heightened our anticipation.
When we arrived at Rancho Obi-Wan, it immediately became apparent that the event would live up to the hype. Darth Vader and one of his stormtroopers were standing guard just beyond the check-in table. To their left, and to my great surprise, were cosplayers dressed as Captain Rex and Gregor—the Rebels version of each. The costumes were excellent and the guys were very friendly. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch their names. I did wonder where Wolfe was though. While I was taking in the cosplayers, Steve Sansweet made his way through the check-in line greeting everyone. If you have ever heard Steve interviewed on podcasts or in other media, I can assure you that he is as warm and inviting as he sounds. I didn’t have many opportunities to talk to him, but whenever I did, he thanked me profusely for being there and supporting the museum. He also has an incredible memory and knowledge of everything in his museum. On more than one occasion I heard him rattle off the details of various pieces on display that included who made the item, how it was used in marketing, and how he acquired it. Most impressive indeed.
After checking in and grabbing a drink, my wife and I were greeted by Anne Neumann, the general manager for Rancho Obi-Wan. Anne was simply wonderful, and she made us feel right at home. In fact, everyone at Rancho Obi-Wan is amazing, and I regret that I can’t remember all of their names. Above all, they had such an enthusiasm for the ranch and the collection. It was infectious. If you weren’t excited when you arrived, you soon would be.
As part of the check-in process, we were instructed on a game to play with our lanyards and badges for the event. Each badge had a silhouette of two Star Wars action figures. The action figures were related in some fashion. See if you can figure it out. Some badges had Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul, others had Obi-Wan and Zam Wessel, or Count Dooku and Anakin as a Padawan or Dooku and Anakin as a Jedi Knight. Sensing a theme yet? At least part of one of the silhouettes was covered with a sticker of the character. The rest of the characters were left open. You were provided with a few stickers that matched the sticker on your badge. The goal of this game was to trade these stickers with others that had similar badges to complete your collection. Of course, the theme of these badges was that they included characters from the saga that had engaged in combat that resulted in someone losing a limb, limbs, or other body part. I had Count Dooku and Padawan Anakin on my badge. The sticker I was provided was Anakin minus his arm. I met a lot of attendees while trying to collect Dooku, his lightsaber, and Anakin’s missing arm. I managed to get everything but Anakin’s arm, and the process was a great icebreaker.
I was taking a swig of my beer when a certain, shiny protocol droid emerged from the museum. C-3P0 had arrived! He had no sooner introduced himself to the crowd and described his capabilities, he is fluent in more than six million forms of communication after all, before he excitedly excused himself to greet a familiar droid. Or so he thought. The classic protocol droid mistook a smoker that was decorated as everyone’s favorite astromech for his longtime companion. Flustered, he insisted to know why Artoo wouldn’t respond before Steve arrived to set him straight. C-3P0 couldn’t have been more pleasant to chat with, and I did have a chance to do just that. He is a protocol droid after all.
On site was Alex Wer, also known as The Pumpkin Geek. He was crafting Star Wars-themed Jack-o-lanterns that for the event that would later be auctioned off. If you have never heard of Alex and his work, you seriously need to check it out. Head on over to his website and peruse his past work: http://thepumpkingeek.com/index.html. I watched as he created a BB-8 pumpkin that was simply outstanding. All told, he made about ten pumpkins, which were the plastic variety. The characters included Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, Boba Fett, Yoda, a battle scene, and others.
The event moved indoors where Steve formally opened the event with C-3P0 at his side. Steve introduced Alex Wer and Don Post, Jr., who succeeded his father as head of Don Post Studios, which was an early Star Wars licensee that made latex masks and helmets. Many of the molds were on display in the museum, which was fitting because it was a Halloween themed event, and what better way to celebrate Halloween than with some masks and pumpkins?
I should take a step back, because I have skipped one of the best parts: entering Rancho Obi-Wan itself. Nothing can prepare you for this. I entered through one of the front entrances which was a set of stairs on the side of the building. I emerged on a second floor where the room hosting the silent auction was on the right. A library filled with nearly every imaginable Star Wars book was on the left. I could have spent hours in the library alone. However, the best part was heading down the hall into the museum proper. I’ve heard Rancho Obi-Wan described many times, and I’ve seen countless pictures of the museum. None of them do it justice. Try to describe it all you want, but I have yet to hear anyone that can adequately convey the sense of awe you get from stepping onto the floor. A life-sized Darth Vader costume, which I understand has some parts used in the movies greets you as you enter museum. Around him and behind him shelves stuffed to near overflowing with memorabilia beckon you. Star Wars merchandise I had never imagined existed filled the shelves. Once upon a time, someone created a set of Star Wars severed limbs and packaged them like the action figures. Bizarre, but fascinating, and it was on Steve’s shelves amongst the every carded action figure you can imagine.
Galaween was a great opportunity to meet people that I have only interacted with online. Early on, I got the chance to meet Jeff Long (Revenge of the Jeff @JeffLong24 on Twitter), whom you may have heard or heard of in conjunction with Skywalking Through Neverland or Podcast 66. We had several great conversations over the course of the evening, and he gave me a valuable piece of advice. Jeff pointed out that it is kind of cool to win something collectible at Rancho Obi-Wan through either the silent auction or the live auction. I kept that in mind for later.
I also had the chance to meet Mark Newbold. You likely know him from, amongst other things, his work on StarWars.com, Star Wars Insider, JediNews.com.uk, and the podcast Radio 1138, which he co-hosts with James Burns. Not to mention, Mark has appeared on countless other podcasts as a guest. He is every bit as pleasant and personable as he sounds. My wife and I had the pleasure of having dinner with Mark on top of a crate used by the museum to store some of their pieces. It was actually a great deal of fun. We talked a great deal about Star Wars and Star Wars events both past and upcoming. Great guy. By the way, Rancho Obi-Wan’s dining room has a life size model of Jabba the Hutt, his throne, and Salacious Crumb. Definitely worth checking out if you get the chance.
One guest that I haven’t mentioned so far is the one and only Dave Filoni. Most Star Wars fans will know him as the creative presence behind Clone Wars and Rebels. I’ll admit up front that I am terrible about meeting people that have any degree of fame, but I was geeking out about the opportunity to say hello to Dave. He spent most of his time at the event graciously talking to anyone that approached him. I finally found a moment to say hello when he was in the “art room” of the museum. I simply told him that I didn’t want to take much of his time, but that I was a fan of his work on both shows, and I thanked him because Clone Wars and Rebels have brought my children into the fandom. He was incredibly gracious, asked me for my name, and thanked me for the compliment stating that it meant a lot to hear that. After that, I thanked him again and left. What can I say; meeting celebrities in person is not something I do well. (Editor’s note: this was perhaps the perfect way to do it. -JT) Pablo Hildago and Matt Martin, both from Lucasfilm, were also in attendance, but I didn’t see them until late, and I didn’t find an opportunity to say hello.
The live auction was one of the feature events of the evening. Steve served as the auctioneer and continued to display his encyclopedic knowledge of the pieces that were up for bid. Some of Don Post’s creations were auctioned off as were Alex Wer’s pumpkins. I won the live auction for the first pumpkin, which featured Darth Vader. It wasn’t something I couldn’t take on the plane comfortably, so I had it shipped and I’m currently awaiting its arrival. I figure it’ll be the envy of the block on Halloween, but it won’t see my front porch. The items that fetched the highest price were a sketch by Ralph McQuarrie of Cloud City and a copy of the original novelization of A New Hope, simply titled Star Wars, which was autographed by George Lucas.
After the conclusion of the auction, cake was served and the evening began to wind down. However, there was one more surprise. The missing Clone Commander arrived, and it was none other than Steve himself cosplaying Commander Wolffe.
Those are the highlights of the trip to Rancho Obi-Wan for Galaween. I cannot recommend a visit to the museum enough. If you can manage it, I would double the recommendation for attending Galaween. There is something there that every Star Wars fan can appreciate. I have many more stories to tell from our visit, and given enough time, I’d include them all and every person I met. Right now, I’m looking at my calendar so I can figure out when I can visit again.
Dennis Keithly is a graduate of the University of Missouri, North Texas attorney, husband, father of two, and co-host of Starships, Sabers, and Scoundrels. In addition to Star Wars, Dennis is a fan of science fiction, fantasy, and super heroes in general. When not engaged in fictional universes, Dennis is reading a good book or watching the NHL, football, or studying the NFL draft.