Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

In search of a party and Star Wars relics

No Yoda in dunes near Yuma

Rainbow trooper seemed to be our only ally in the intergalactic battle to boogie.
Rainbow trooper seemed to be our only ally in the intergalactic battle to boogie.

when I glanced over the Facebook event page advertising a Star Wars cosplay convention in the dunes outside of Yuma, I automatically assumed it would be a party. I pictured spacetini-sipping Slave Leias and inebriated Ewoks stumbling around the desert on a headful of acid. I imagined tequila-soaked Jawas and uproarious Jabbas gloating in the midday heat. But as my buddy Justin and I pull in to Buttercup Ranger Station, it dawns on me that I’m as wrong as skinny jeans on Tatooine. This isn’t a party at all.

Because I hadn’t bothered to read the event page, Justin explains that this is a filming location from Return of the Jedi.

Cosplayers from as far as Phoenix and San Diego converged on the dunes of Buttercup Valley.

The only apparent activities include wandering around the dunes or standing in a long line made up almost entirely of families. A Red Guard appears and murmurs something about the Emperor to Boba Fett, who pulls the nearby characters together for a photo shoot. Those of us with cameras jockey for position in an awkward, obligatory frenzy. Coming to terms with the fact that we’ve crashed a children’s parade, we go back to the car to load our Sombrero’s cups with beer and consider our next move. A stormtrooper with a rainbow flag and pink tutu poses for photos. His face is hidden, but I’m certain I can sense the same wry chuckle that hit Justin and me when we realized we were the only ones who had come out here expecting a rave.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“Do you think he’s selling ecstasy?” Justin wonders aloud, but he’s gone before we have the chance to find out.

The City of Yuma curated a small collection of fan art for the event.

“It’s about a two-mile walk,” a ranger explains at a fan-art area organized by the City of Yuma. “Just follow whatever’s left of the service road out to Jabba’s sail barge and don’t get lost. That’s very common.”

Expectation: Burning Man. Reality: Chillin’ children

Like a fate-fueled R2D2 and C3PO, we head off into the dunes. An hour later, half-drunk and dehydrated, we come upon a crowd of characters in a clearing. There is no barge. There is no sarlacc pit. There isn’t anything but sand. We ask a dude in a slapdash Grand Moff Tarkin outfit where to find Jabba. He gestures across the valley.

“Go that way,” the Grand Moff says. “There’s not much out there, just some holes in the ground where people went digging for leftover lumber and insulation. People like to collect that stuff.”

We eventually find the site, we think. It looks like pretty much everything else out here, except a bunch of rocks and sun-bleached beer cans that litter the desert floor. I pick up a rusty screw and hold it for a while. I try to feel emotions, but nothing happens. No sense of arrival. No fanboy giggle-fit. Nothing.

The independent event was backed by Yuma this year, raising numbers from 30 to hundreds of attendees.

The anticlimax of the set feels exactly like that of the recent Star Wars movie, which appeals to the same, distant sense of nostalgia but, like the characters in the film, comes off as a craggy relic. As a so-called Millennial, I’ve always accepted that I am doomed to a lifetime of hopeless Star Wars fandom, but I realize now that my attraction to the series is mostly a matter of proximity and osmosis. I love Star Wars in the same way I love pizza or air conditioning or Halloween. It’s just the obvious thing to do.

When we get back to the station, we’re mostly delirious. The notes in my voice recorder have stopped making sense. Rainbow trooper is gone. Return of the Jedi is playing on a large screen. I thumb the weathered screw in my pocket.

It’s stupid, but I keep the damned thing.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Looking back at race relations in Coronado

A former football player recalls the good and the bad
Next Article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate
Rainbow trooper seemed to be our only ally in the intergalactic battle to boogie.
Rainbow trooper seemed to be our only ally in the intergalactic battle to boogie.

when I glanced over the Facebook event page advertising a Star Wars cosplay convention in the dunes outside of Yuma, I automatically assumed it would be a party. I pictured spacetini-sipping Slave Leias and inebriated Ewoks stumbling around the desert on a headful of acid. I imagined tequila-soaked Jawas and uproarious Jabbas gloating in the midday heat. But as my buddy Justin and I pull in to Buttercup Ranger Station, it dawns on me that I’m as wrong as skinny jeans on Tatooine. This isn’t a party at all.

Because I hadn’t bothered to read the event page, Justin explains that this is a filming location from Return of the Jedi.

Cosplayers from as far as Phoenix and San Diego converged on the dunes of Buttercup Valley.

The only apparent activities include wandering around the dunes or standing in a long line made up almost entirely of families. A Red Guard appears and murmurs something about the Emperor to Boba Fett, who pulls the nearby characters together for a photo shoot. Those of us with cameras jockey for position in an awkward, obligatory frenzy. Coming to terms with the fact that we’ve crashed a children’s parade, we go back to the car to load our Sombrero’s cups with beer and consider our next move. A stormtrooper with a rainbow flag and pink tutu poses for photos. His face is hidden, but I’m certain I can sense the same wry chuckle that hit Justin and me when we realized we were the only ones who had come out here expecting a rave.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“Do you think he’s selling ecstasy?” Justin wonders aloud, but he’s gone before we have the chance to find out.

The City of Yuma curated a small collection of fan art for the event.

“It’s about a two-mile walk,” a ranger explains at a fan-art area organized by the City of Yuma. “Just follow whatever’s left of the service road out to Jabba’s sail barge and don’t get lost. That’s very common.”

Expectation: Burning Man. Reality: Chillin’ children

Like a fate-fueled R2D2 and C3PO, we head off into the dunes. An hour later, half-drunk and dehydrated, we come upon a crowd of characters in a clearing. There is no barge. There is no sarlacc pit. There isn’t anything but sand. We ask a dude in a slapdash Grand Moff Tarkin outfit where to find Jabba. He gestures across the valley.

“Go that way,” the Grand Moff says. “There’s not much out there, just some holes in the ground where people went digging for leftover lumber and insulation. People like to collect that stuff.”

We eventually find the site, we think. It looks like pretty much everything else out here, except a bunch of rocks and sun-bleached beer cans that litter the desert floor. I pick up a rusty screw and hold it for a while. I try to feel emotions, but nothing happens. No sense of arrival. No fanboy giggle-fit. Nothing.

The independent event was backed by Yuma this year, raising numbers from 30 to hundreds of attendees.

The anticlimax of the set feels exactly like that of the recent Star Wars movie, which appeals to the same, distant sense of nostalgia but, like the characters in the film, comes off as a craggy relic. As a so-called Millennial, I’ve always accepted that I am doomed to a lifetime of hopeless Star Wars fandom, but I realize now that my attraction to the series is mostly a matter of proximity and osmosis. I love Star Wars in the same way I love pizza or air conditioning or Halloween. It’s just the obvious thing to do.

When we get back to the station, we’re mostly delirious. The notes in my voice recorder have stopped making sense. Rainbow trooper is gone. Return of the Jedi is playing on a large screen. I thumb the weathered screw in my pocket.

It’s stupid, but I keep the damned thing.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The Digital Currency Wave Hits the Shores of San Diego

Next Article

Mid-range fleet scoring bluefin limits off Ensenada

Rockfish to open at all depths April 1st (no foolin’)
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.