TH E GR A N D R E - OP E N I N G OF
by mintinb ox.net
Tex ts by Pier re D'O vidio - Photos and design by M ichel Ver p o or ten
When you receive an invitation for such an event, the first thought you have is: "Time to pick an airline company !"
Saturday, 5th of November 2011‌ Early morning. The morning is fresh and cool, butterflies are flying from flower to flower, and banthas are peacefully eating grass‌ Oops‌ We were on the roads of Northern California, and on our way to Petaluma, our goal: the re-opening of Rancho Obi-Wan, the biggest gathering of memorabilia of Star Wars, in one same place, property of one single owner.
When you plan to gather more than 100 persons in one place, you need to have organization skill. The whole meeting was smooth, thanks to Anne Neumann, Rancho's Collection Manager, and all her team. The organization was without any glitch!
We received through mail our invitation for the event, with logistic directives to ease our coming. We let our vehicle in a parking lot of Petaluma as directed on the invitation, a shuttle was waiting for us to drive us to the Rancho, and the trip was the opportunity to discuss with other collecting friends before getting lost in the turmoil of the evening.
As soon as we arrived, and despite it was raining cats and dogs, Steve Sansweet, Ann Neumann and her team welcomed us and directed us to the lockers where a Rancho Obi-Wan bag was waiting for us, eager to swallow our belongings‌ But the bag was already filled with little souvenirs, another proof of the great organisation...
After climbing up a couple of degrees, we realised that we were, at last, in the Holy Grail of any collector: we had in front of us the office of Steve Sansweet, with photographs as a symbol of testimony. The place is set to host the most personalised pieces of Steve. In this room, one can see the "Birthday" poster autographed by George Lucas, it is a retirement present.
Steve invited us to go to the museum, on the path, we crossed a corridor filled with genuine Star Wars poster, on the right hand side, a room dedicated to posters (in fact, more than 3,000 are there), other artworks and also a fantastic collection of more than 30,000 trading cards, postcards, game cards or food products. Under shock, we went slowly to the left room: an incredible library with books from 37 countries and in 35 languages (among them the Braille)... With only these two rooms, one could spend a full day, if not more... We were very eager to continue the visit!
At the end of the corridor, the visitor is greeted by a well known view of the Rancho Obi-Wan: the Size 1 Darth Vader (with the genuine costume of TESB, except for the gloves, boots and lightsaber) and a full length of shelves filled up with tens of objects, each of them could be the Holy Grail of many collectors.
Our visit is in fact a dream; we were sleepwalking in a nice dream! Climbing down the stairs among other guests, the most difficult was to decide where to look, a feeling difficult to explain to noncollectors. We were still under shock and it was not easy to go back on Earth, especially with a full animatronics Cantina Band: yes, the one, which was in the now-closed FAO Schwartz of Las Vegas. So we went along the alleys, filled with many things that we cannot name one to be fair with the others ones, we rather like to show you the photographs our own Michel took.
Our pride was shining too: the Boba Fett Gold Medallion was there too and we have been touched by the gesture, though it was among an approved prototype of a size 1 Boba Fett from Don Post Studios and the size 1 of Illusive Concepts’ Han Solo in Carbonite.
It would be time to go back in that first room to enjoy the many sub-alleys full of Star Wars products, but we were invited by Steve to walk to a closed curtain, but before that, we discovered a room dedicated to prototypes and other props in which we found back the Attakus's Millennium Falcon diorama customized with nice light effects. With so many nice items, the atmosphere was more and more electric; it was time for the curtain to be open to reveal the new wing of Rancho Obi-Wan.
Steve opened it and we were in a corridor of the Tantive IV (made by a group of the R2-D2 Builder's Club for Celebration IV) and two Stormtroopers. Steve climbed up the stairs, and activated a screen, thanks to the Force and a Jedi mind trick, he convinced the Imperials to open the door...
And we were again for another surprise!
On each side of the door, there were R2-D2 and C-3PO from Don Post Studios, there was also a Dejarik game made by Philip Wise (Rebelscum) and we were able to access the new wing: on the left hand side, an arcade room filled up with pinball and video games, a Sandcrawler carrying the Guest Book, a USPS mailbox disguised as R2-D2 (watch out for the FBI!), a seat used in the consular spaceship of Coruscant seen in the Revenge of the Sith, Darth Vader from Yoshitoku Company, and many many other things!
At the end of the new wing, one can see the Art Gallery area with several Darth Vader's helmets from the "Vader Project," other Stormtroopers' helmets from the "TK Project" for the Make-A-Wish Charity, two statues from the 2007 Rose Parade in Pasadena, a 3metre and 200kgs Darth Vader's head, which was in Times Square's Toys'R'Us of New York. Speaking of which, Steve got it free, but spent USD 5,000 in shipping!
Another French pride: an art of CĂŠdric Delsaux was in that area, nearby the prototype of Attakus's Darth Vader bust, with his Dark Lens book dedicated to his work in the Star Wars universe.
Art is booming for the collectors, and that area was simply amazing.
On the right hand side of the wing, the Rancho General Store to buy some related products and Steve's autographed books, we didn't hesitate... To the left, a door leading outside or more exactly to an area where a buffet was all the night long. A flawless organisation as we already said...
5:01pm the official ceremony took place with Steve and Tom Schaefer, Mayor of Star Wars Town, nearby the size 1 Darth Vader.
The ribbon was cut and the Rancho could again re-open as a non-lucrative society (approved by the California State), whose goal is to share with the public this memory of Star Wars, through objects for education, cultural, aesthetic and intellectual purposes, which is a good way to preserve this fantastic collection!
From 5:30pm and every thirty minutes, a sweepstake took place: at the entrance we were given red small tickets, and we understood their usage when we saw the superb gifts given by Steve.
At 7:30pm, the official speeches started: an introduction by James Arnold Taylor, the voice of Obi-Wan in the Clone Wars, it was also the opportunity for him to be made an honorary member of the 501st Garrison. Then the speech of Steve, full of emotion and a testimony of his involvement to the fans. Indeed, since he left his job at Lucasfilm, something is missing: who is taking care of us now?
At the end of the speech, it was time to reveal what was hidden by the tall curtain nearby the General Store. It was a huge surprise: a replica of the cake of the first anniversary of Star Wars with vintage figures around it, and another cake similar to the Rancho Obi-Wan. Steve really laid out a real spread.
It may seem paradox but the evening was a full success because it was in the name of friendship, despite we were frustrated.
It was a real pleasure to meet old friends and acquaintances from the Star Wars world that we made during the eight years of MintinBox: Steve, Ann(s), Bob, Philip, Ben, Shane, Chris(s), Randy, Denise, Ron, Gus, Duncan, Luis, Mary, Matt, David, Pete, Frank and many others. It was really great to meet them all and share with them these moments.
It was also a real pleasure for Pierre to meet again John Kellerman despite his recent health problems, and to also meet no other than Don Post or Lawrence Noble, and to chat with them. And also to meet Consetta Parker who would take care of the public relations of the Rancho Obi-Wan!
As we wrote earlier, we were frustrated too: the time was really too short for us to enjoy plainly the thousands of objects, to look at them carefully, to shoot them. Steve, please, let us come again for a longer more private visit!
At last, we interviewed Steve about the event and we also gave him the various presents we brought for that, as a way to thank him for all the help he gave to MintInBox along the years. Without him, it could have been nearly impossible to show you what we did. MintInBox owes him a lot.
It was nearly 11:00pm, some photographs to be done, some testimonies, the time to digest this magical place for any collector, but it was unfortunately time to part our ways, with a lot of dreams in our heads.
Thank you so much Steve for this part of dream as you give us !
Lionel, Pierre, SĂŠbastien and Michel
This photo was taken by Pierre
A rep o r t fo r m int i nb ox .net real ized by
M ic hel Ver p o o r ten Pi er re D 'O vidio L io nel D urand S eb ast ien L asno n
Th i s b o o k i s d e d i cated to Steve S answeet and t he R anc ho O b i - Wan's Team