This October, SARLACC made its now annual trek to Rancho Obi-Wan to participate in the fundraising gala and auction. This year, the theme was ‘Galaween’ and there were plenty of Halloween themed activities to participate in.
SARLACC members Curt, Gus, Tom, Michal and Amy flew to San Francisco the day of the event. We had just enough time to meet up with Cathy from StarWarsCards.net at the airport before going directly to the party. We drove up, parking right next to Dave Feloni as he arrived.
The Rancho was festively decorated for the occasion.
There were fantastically carved pumpkins by The Pumpkin Geek. The pumpkin below features the event’s logo which was designed by SARLACC’s own Curt Hanks. Read more about the logo here.
As in previous years, there plenty of items for collectors to bid on and win in raffles. SARLACCian Amy donated this crochet set of Rey and BB-8.
Steve was the master of ceremonies and this year special guest C3PO (Chris Bartlett) joined in the fun.
Many of us were thrilled to talk with special guests like Don Post Jr. who was a wealth of knowledge on casting and its processes. Here Don stands in front of a display of original Don Post licensed merchandise advertisements from the collection of Pete Vilmur.
After the auction we spent some time in the collection looking at all the new items on display. Including one of the SARLACC action figures made by Earl.
Towards the end of the evening we just hung around the library keeping an eye on the silent auction and conversing with collectors that we don’t get to see often enough.
All too soon the night was over. But we knew we’d be back (the next day in fact).
We met up with collectors Ross and Ryan from Canada and Dave from Ohio at the Rancho the next morning. The day began with a trading session of American and Canadian Star Wars food packaging.
As some collectors went off for their annual board meeting, the rest of us went inside for more trading. This time Journey to the Force Awakens Topps trading cards.
There was also plenty to see in the back aisles as usual. Shhhh… Don’t tell Steve!
We set off for San Francisco in a caravan with a pitstop at California fast food staple, In-N-Out. Next stop Super 7 studios for a tour with its owner.
The Super 7 studios was a delight and we all got to marvel over the collection of items and their fantastic display. We even learned some new things about Japanese toys and Italian movie posters.
The next stop was the airport. We bid fellow collectors Ross, Ryan, Cathy and Dave goodbye until next we meet at another Star Wars gathering not too far away.