Episode IX was fast approaching. Star Wars live action TV was on the horizon. It was the 20th anniversary of The Phantom Menace. Our fandom was growing and changing as the Skywalker Saga was about to reach its conclusion, and the Star Wars fandom descended on McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago for the weekend of April 11-15, 2019. Let’s take a look back at some of the highlights and best moments from Celebration Chicago!
THE CLOSING CEREMONIES VIDEO ~ They always get me with the montage video at the end of every Celebration. Whether it’s on the show floor during those closing ceremonies or six years later watching from my desk at my office job, I’m guaranteed to get misty eyed if not fully weep. So cool to watch this video and see so many familiar faces, of people who have since become my friends!
THE SAGA MURAL ~ This mural was absolutely stunning and grabbed every eye as soon as you entered the convention center. With one panel representing every movie, plus one for Clone Wars and another for Rebels, the wildest thing was that the Episode IX panel remained covered with a black sheet (as seen above) until after the panel revealed the trailer and title! Also included is Pierce Brosnan Thrawn (lol). Read more about the piece in a March 2019 article from the official website HERE.
THE RUNNING OF THE HOODS ~ One of the most beloved Celebration traditions, check out this video to see the Running of the Hoods from 2019! The video also shows great on-the-ground footage of the floor in general. And shout out to whoever dressed up as the ice cream maker (camtono, lol) carrying the Willrow Hood doll…you are actually a genius. Additional shout out to the multiple “Boom Mic Guy” cosplayers. Save the Rebellion! Save the ice cream!
RECORD BREAKING LEGO DISPLAY ~ Also in the middle of the exhibit floor (or rather…towards the entrance in the middle, I guess) was an insanely impressive display of tens of thousands of Stormtrooper LEGO minifigures. Turns out this broke a Guinness World Record, for the largest display of LEGO Star Wars minifigures. Over 36,000! Read about in this April 2019 article from the official site.
FLOOR FOOTAGE ~ Another video showing a great walk through of the exhibit floor. Wish I could jump into this video and walk around!
THE COLLECTING TRACK PANELS ~ After two years steeped in research into the early Celebrations where footage and photos are few and far between, seeing something like this playlist of EVERY panel from the Chicago 2019 Collecting Track is an absolute joy. 20 videos! 20 panels! Close to 20 hours of experts and enthusiasts from all areas of collecting!
THE DIORAMA WORKSHOP ~ In Chicago, the Diorama Builders were back on the floor, this time creating a beach scene from the Battle of Scariff! So much work went into putting this together, and you can see it all intensely documented on the Diorama Workshop website in photo and video form.
AHMED ON THE LIVE STAGE ~ There are few things better than watching Ahmed Best get his flowers for the amazing and groundbreaking work that he and Lucasfilm did to bring Jar Jar to life. I was working at the Celebration store when this happened, and I remember hearing the cheers all the way across the convention center. It’s a whole lot of joy, and I’m so glad that Ahmed came back into the Star Wars universe and stayed!
For me, Chicago was my first ever Celebration. It was the first time that I was giving myself permission to fully dive into this fandom, and even though I didn’t know a soul, I signed up to work the event just to get myself in the door.
There are so many moments I’ll never forget, from watching the Episode IX trailer on the exhibit floor and sobbing, to folding roughly ten million t-shirts, to walking around Monday handing out my little mini-zine (the first one I ever made) feeling like this was a community that I wanted to, needed to be a part of.
Handed out 50 of these in Chicago!
Now here we are, six years later and the world has changed so much not to mention all the changes to Star Wars. But the fandom community is strong as ever and will be celebrating once again this weekend in Japan!
the celebration database 