MANY Thanks to MANY people for a Successful Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2022!

For this year’s Star Wars Celebration, ReedPop asked us to create a high-quality exhibit to fill 6,000 square feet on the third floor rather than our normal 900 square feet in the exhibit hall. That’s a great big empty room to fill, so we partnered with fellow collectors and Rancho Obi-Wan Board members Gus Lopez, Duncan Jenkins, and Lisa Stevens and Vic Wertz to execute the vision for this space. Each of the four collections is unique and provided a balance of amazing objects from concept, to screen, to collectible, to fan-made. We have many people to thank for helping bring this vision to reality for Celebration in Anaheim.

Rancho Obi-Wan Boba Fett to Bo-Katan Exhibit

We welcomed just over 8,000 visitors over four days, and we hope the experience we created for you brought a lot of joy, laughter, warm feelings of nostalgia, and the rush of awe and wonder. Thank you for coming!

Rancho Obi-Wan Boba Fett to Bo-Katan Exhibit

Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2022

Our main exhibit, Boba Fett to Bo-Katan: The Evolution of the Mandalorians, and four smaller exhibits, What’s in a Name, The History of Star Tots, Cascading Grogu in Ombré, and 10 Years of Rancho Obi-Wan, took seven months of brainstorming, planning, curating and designing. We ultimately brought almost 600 unique objects from all four collections to display in 20 different cases.

Star Wars Celebration Anaheim Exhibit

We also had our popular wheel spin, the general store, a fundraising raffle, and—new this year—a Create Your Own Sketch Card program area. We received 347 brilliant works of art from all ages around the world (including one from the man himself, Dave Filoni).

Star Wars Celebration Dave Filoni Sketch Card

Our mission to inspire came to fruition at this single small table at the exit of the Boba Fett exhibit. We had created a story, found objects in our collections to support that story, displayed them for visitors to enjoy, and then watched them pour that inspiration into works of art. To come full circle, we’ll be scanning the art and sharing them on our social channels over the next many months. I guarantee these pieces will, in turn, inspire others, and so the mission is fulfilled exponentially!

Star Wars Celebration Sketch Card

Ultimately, bringing this exceptionally large exhibit to Celebration was exceptionally hard. I’ve likened the experience to running a marathon and then immediately running several sprints. But at least our gang of volunteers was running together and picking up one another when one of us fell. Rancho Obi-Wan may be the result of Steve Sansweet’s passion, but its foundation is a group of incredible people who work hard, who work often, who care for the collection as their own, and who care for its founder and fellow volunteers as their family.

Star Wars Celebration Thank You

Please join me in thanking the following 76 people for getting it done:

Steve Sansweet
presents
The Rancho Obi-Wan Experience
at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2022

Star Wars Celebration

Introducing
The Saga Museum
a World-Class Collaboration
featuring the collections of
Steve Sansweet
Gus Lopez
Duncan Jenkins
Lisa Stevens & Vic Wertz

Star Wars Celebration

Produced by Anne Neumann

Boba Fett to Bo-Katan Exhibit

Research
Vic Wertz

Story
Vic Wertz
Steve Sansweet

Curating
Anne Neumann
Dan Norgan
Duncan Jenkins
Gus Lopez
Lisa Stevens
Michael Wistock
Rich Smolen
Vic Wertz

Captions
Vic Wertz
Anne Neumann

Interpretive Plan & Design
Anne Neumann
Paula Millstone

Installation
Anne Jenkins
Lisa Stevens
Rich Smolen
Vic Wertz
Freeman

What’s in a Name Exhibit
Duncan Jenkins

Star Wars Celebration 2022

History of Star Tots Exhibit
Gus Lopez

Cascading Grogu in Ombre Exhibit
Anne Neumann

10 Years of Rancho Obi-Wan Exhibit
Anne Neumann

Exhibit Prep Marathon
Aileen Sweeney
Bob Canning
Brian Allbright
Carl Wagner, Carpentry
Consetta Parker, Social Media
Curt Hanks, Graphic Design
Dan Norgan, Technology
David Leonard
Duncan Jenkins
Dwayne Smith
Giuseppe Lipari
Gus Lopez
Jeff Neckers
Kaden Smith
Lisa Stevens
Lorena Gies
Marc Morita
Marino Frugoli
Marlon Sarabosing
Michael Wistock
Phillip Barr
Rich Smolen, Online Exhibit Galleries
Shannon Smith
Steve Gies
Steve Sansweet
Stewart Levy
Tahal Royce
Troy Brierly
Vic Wertz
Yannik Morales

Exhibit Set-Up 200m Sprint
Anne Jenkins
Anne Neumann
Duncan Jenkins
Dwayne Smith
Eric Plummer
Gus Lopez
Jason Neurath
Lisa Stevens
Lorena Gies
Marc Morita
Michael Wistock
Rich Smolen
Steve Sansweet
Stewart Levy
Susan Rogers
Tony Clemens
Vic Wertz
Victoria Webb

Exhibit Management 400m Sprint
Anne Neumann, Manager

Anne Jenkins, Assistant to Steve Sansweet
Consetta Parker, Social Media & Scheduling
Duncan Jenkins, Docent
Gus Lopez, Docent
Jason Neurath, Steve’s personal shopper
Joe Churin, Remote Suburban Support
Lisa Stevens, Docent
Lorena Gies, General Store
Mark Rusciano, Videography
Rich Smolen, General Store
Stewart Levy, Wheel Manager & Chauffeur
Steve Sansweet, Docent
Susan Rogers, General Store & Sketch Card Program Manager
Victoria Webb, Photography
Vic Wertz, Docent

Volunteers
Tracy Kelly, Volunteer Coordinator

Tracy Kelly, On-Site Manager
Angel-Marie Ashley, On-Site Manager
Tony Clemens, On-Site Manager

Aileen Sweeney
Amanda Jamnicky
Anne Marie Lehmeyer
Charmaine Cuddie
Chuck Goddard
Davina Deschain
Derek Fecke
Dwayne Smith
Eric Plummer
Grace Chang
Jason Thomas
Jeff Caffrey
Jeff Ellis
Jennifer Sanders
Jon Nagel
Kay Fluhler
Kelly DuBose
Kenny Dow
Kort Peters
Kris Dow
Laura Takao
Lawrence Green
Marc Morita
Matt Kamimura
Melissa Hillman
Nick Dellow
Nick Gillispie
Peter Jamnicky
Rachael Royce
Reggie Clark
Rosy Mendoza
Steven Newcomb
Tahal Royce
Tammy Ross
Tate Dellow
Toni McIntire
Werner DeGruyter
Wes Middleton
Yannik Morales

Exhibit Tear-Down 100m Sprint
Anne Jenkins
Anne Neumann
Duncan Jenkins
Dwayne Smith
Gus Lopez
Lisa Stevens
Lorena Gies
Marc Morita
Michael Wistock
Rich Smolen
Steve Sansweet
Stewart Levy
Susan Rogers
Tony Clemens
Vic Wertz
Victoria Webb
Werner Degruyter

Exhibit Wind-Down Half-Marathon
Anne Neumann
Carl Wagner
Consetta Parker
Dwayne Smith
Octavia Churin
Steve Sansweet
Stewart Levy
Victoria Webb

The only core group shot we got and which I totally forgot was taken by Victoria (not shown). Something apparently hilarious happened. 🙂


 

 

Anne Neumann is President and CEO of Rancho Obi-Wan, former Volunteer Coordinator and Fan Club Breakfast Manager for Official Pix, and previously a Systems Analyst at the University of Texas at Austin.

See more Star Wars Celebration with Rancho Obi-Wan

Packing for Rancho Obi-Wan Exhibit at Star Wars Celebration is a Galactic Endeavor!

Preparing and packing for the Rancho Obi-Wan exhibit for Star Wars Celebration is a galactic endeavor… Do you think we wrapped Boba Fett in bubble wrap or encased him in carbonite for his trip to Anaheim? Watch this video to find out!

Huge thanks to our amazing volunteers for always being there to help. *And special thanks to Rex for allowing Boba to borrow his suitcase!

Bonus: Here are some sneak peek photos of a few of the collectibles we’ll be bringing to Anaheim for Star Wars fans of all ages to enjoy.

See photos from Star Wars Celebration 2022!

Rancho Obi-Wan Members Exclusive Fundraiser May 5th at The Presidio

A Rancho Obi-Wan members exclusive event was hosted by Skywalker Vineyards as part of their May the Fourth celebrations. This private fundraiser took place at Sessions Restaurant at the Presidio in San Francisco, California on Thursday, May 5th.
From 7pm-10pm, everyone got to enjoy:
– Skywalker Vineyards wine tastings and shopping at the Skywalker Ranch general store (and Rancho Obi-Wan items too!)
Sessions at the Presidio joined forces with Smugglers Cove to provide special tiki eats platter and Star Wars themed drinks.
– Rancho Obi-Wan fundraising raffle with some amazing prizes!
– A small exhibit of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian items to view.
– Steve Sansweet was there to visit with folks and sign autographs.

Special Thanks to Victoria Webb for photography featuring all the fun festivities!

Would you like an invite to our next member exclusive event? Visit our Membership page and thank you for your support!

Watch Time Lapse Video of Rare Star Wars Billboard Sheets Put Together!

1977 Star Wars Billboard

We took a deep dive into the loft area during our Rancho Obi-Wan Virtual Fundraiser Gala in 2021, and discovered rare Star Wars Billboard sheets from 1977!
There were 24 sheets with the date of 11/18/77 and we handled each with great care.

Watch the time lapse video of our team putting together this beautiful piece of Star Wars history!

Continue reading “Watch Time Lapse Video of Rare Star Wars Billboard Sheets Put Together!”

The History Channel Gets a Taste of Star Wars at Rancho Obi-Wan

Some of the visitors to Rancho Obi-Wan are diehard collectors who have a mental list of specific things they want to see, such as our collection of carded vintage Kenner action figures. But until recently we’ve never had a guest who was looking to EAT a vintage collectible!

Adam Richman, a genial and knowledgeable pop-culture maven and longtime TV series host, was the first. We were approached in 2021 by a production company putting together a new series for the History channel with an unusual idea. They wanted Adam to revisit pop culture highlights of the 1980s by tasting them! And Star Wars was certainly one of those highlights.

Rancho has lots of packaging for licensed food products from the original Star Wars trilogy, but nearly all of them are empty. (There is that small box somewhere of mummified marshmallow character heads from the UK, but they weren’t easy to locate.) Could we find some four-decade-old food for Adam to discover during a Rancho tour?

A few years ago at a collectors party during Star Wars Celebration there was a contest to see who could finish a bowl of 1984 C-3PO’s cereal first. That was almost too easy since the cereal tasted like dry cardboard even when it was new! But we found a box of sealed 1983 Pepperidge Farm Return of the Jedi cookies in our archives. And we had sealed Topps cards and slabs of bubblegum from The Empire Strikes Back.

Would Adam be up to the challenge? Might I taste something too? I’ve chewed 20 year old Spanish Droids and Ewoks gum, but this was an even greater task. And once I smelled the excruciatingly vile chemical smell coming from the cookie bag, I decided to let Adam have the sole moment of glory.

A lot more happened during the 12-plus hours the crew was at Rancho, and the highlights, if not always tasty, can be seen in the episode of “Adam Eats the 80s” airing this Sunday night, April 10th on The History Channel!

Steve Sansweet is owner and Executive Chairman of Rancho Obi-Wan, former Head of Fan Relations at Lucasfilm and contributor to StarWars.com, and previously the longest-running Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal in Los Angeles.

You may also enjoy Scouting the Galaxy with Steve Sansweet

A Bobblehead Surprise from Spain for Steve Sansweet

The Bobbleheads of the Galaxy—The Last Bobblehead, a 2017 graphic novel parody from Spain by artist Enrique Vegas. It contained a surprise for our founder Steve Sansweet.
In an internal panel, Steve is featured inside a carbonite block with a Rancho Obi-Wan sign hanging nearby, in the “humble establishment” of someone who considers himself the ultimate collector!

A Look Behind the Scenes of Our Virtual Gala 2021

Star Wars Posters

Our mission here at Rancho Obi-Wan is to inspire! We are inspired by all the support from everyone near and far that help us continue to share our collection of the World’s largest Star Wars Memorabilia Collection!

We couldn’t have brought our our Virtual Fundraising Gala 2021 to you without the help of our volunteers and docents. 

Here are a few fun behind the scenes photos taken during our Virtual Fundraiser Gala 2021.  Featured: Rancho Obi-Wan founder, Steve Sansweet. Volunteer Director of Production Mark Rusciano and Docent Dwayne Smith. *Photos by Consetta Parker, Special Projects and Media Manager for Rancho Obi-Wan 

Be sure you’re subscribed to our free newsletter for updates on our Next Fundraising Gala that will be IN PERSON August 20, 2022!
Continue reading “A Look Behind the Scenes of Our Virtual Gala 2021”