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Star Wars Celebration Europe II – Day 1
26 July 2013 @ 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Friday, July 26, 2013 * Setup on Thursday – International meetup – Two shows in the evening
Since we had already been able to set up our booth on Thursday, we arrived at the fairgrounds in Essen quite relaxed on Friday morning.
But we didn't have much time that morning to explore the countless fan and vendor booths, since we would be contributing our show to the Celebration program that evening and therefore still had to rehearse a run-through or two before the gates opened to visitors at half past nine.
After a few successful run-throughs, we put our sabers back at the booth and awaited the first visitors, who didn't keep us waiting long. We were quickly drawn into interesting conversations, mostly in German, but some also in English or even Dutch.
Even though the crowd at the booth was big, we gradually managed to slip away in small groups to say hello to friends, attend panels or simply admire the many costumed fans, vendors and fan groups.
This way we also caught a glimpse or two of Mark Hamill, Ian McDiarmid or Kenny Baker, if only from a distance, since autograph prices of up to 120 euros kept us at bay.
With all these impressions and experiences, good conversations and new acquaintances, it's no surprise that the day flew by for us, so we soon threw on our costumes and set off on the long walk across the Grugapark to the open-air screening of Episode VI, before which we wanted to entertain the audience with our show.
After a walk through the park that dragged on quite a bit, we reached the big screen not a minute too soon; hundreds of spectators had already made themselves comfortable on blankets in front of it.
We quickly checked the sabers and got ready, because shortly afterwards we were announced and had to be ready to go. Since the sun was still shining and it was very warm that weekend anyway, we sweated quite a bit in our robes and costumes, but that didn't stop us from fighting our way through the program with full motivation and lots of fun.
When the last Jedi had finally fallen and Vader triumphed, not only the audience was thrilled, but also Mary Franklin, the organizer of Celebration Europe II.
To our delight, she offered us the chance to present a second show after the film, which we gladly accepted, and so two hours later, in much better lighting, we raised our sabers again.
After a run-through that went much more cleanly than the first, we packed up our belongings, exhausted, answered a question or two about our team or posed for photos.
By now Hannes, Fabi, Larissa and Günther – some loyal helpers and very good friends – had also made the long trip from Bavaria to Essen, so there was a happy reunion here too.
A short while later we headed to our cars, exhausted, and despite aching limbs and tiredness we looked forward to the coming days.
