Modesto library holding ‘Star Wars’ Week activities

The Force won’t awaken until December, but fans of the galaxy far, far away created by Modesto native George Lucas are celebrating “Star Wars” Day today, May 4, as in “May the Fourth be with you.”

The Stanislaus County Library will keep the party going with “Star Wars” Week activities each day, culminating Saturday with a costumed Imperial March around the library and a screening of the 1977 classic that started it all, “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.”

Until about 6 p.m. Monday in the library, there will be prize drawings for “Star Wars” items. Patrons simply fill out a slip of paper at the Darth Vader cardboard figure near the library entrance. On the library’s Facebook page, those who correctly answered a trivia question before 5 p.m. – What planet is Chewbacca from? – also were entered into drawings.

Each day, a stuffed Yoda doll will be tucked away in a different spot in the children’s area, and those who spot him will receive a “Star Wars” button.

On Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., there will be craft projects in the children’s area. Tuesday’s craft will let children make designs from fusible plastic beads. They don’t have to be “Star Wars” designs, but that’s the general idea, said Amber O’Brien-VerHulst, a library assistant II in the children’s and teens areas. Thursday’s will be headbands to look like Princess Lei’s hair buns or Yoda’s ears.

There’s no need to preregister for the craft events, but for Saturday’s 1 p.m. showing of the original “Star Wars,” free tickets will be required. They will be available in the children’s area starting at 11:45 a.m. The tickets are necessary because the downstairs auditorium in which the movie will screen comfortably holds only about 150 people.

Prior to the movie, there will be a costume parade around the library as the “Imperial March” music from “Star Wars” plays. Children and adults alike are invited to dress up, because “‘Star Wars’ spans the ages,” O’Brien-VerHulst said. “It’s going to be so cool!” she added.

She herself will be wearing her husband’s Jedi knight attire, and she’s asked the group Central California Garrison, part of the 501st Legion, if it might have members attend. The elaborately costumed members are known to greet fans and pose for photos at movie premieres, Free Comic Book Day and other “Star Wars”-related celebrations. Its members dress as Jedi, stormtroopers in all their variations, Sith lords, bounty hunters and other characters from the Lucas universe.

Garrison member and Turlock resident Steven Gwin, who appears as either a sandtrooper (a desert version of a stormtrooper) or Darth Vader, told The Bee, “I’m not sure how many of us will be making it out, but I will definitely be there as Darth Vader.”

According to Starwars.com, one of the earliest known pop-culture references to “May the 4th” was a 1979 ad in the London Evening News congratulating Margaret Thatcher on being elected the first female prime minister of Britain. Referencing the election date, the ad by her party read: “May the Fourth Be With You, Maggie. Congratulations.”

“Once the Internet allowed ‘Star Wars’ fans around the world to connect with one another,” Starwars.com says, “May the 4th soon became a grassroots tradition each year, with fans online and offline proclaiming it ‘Star Wars’ Day.”

O’Brien-VerHulst said the day of celebration entered her radar about five years ago. The library had just had a donation of a Darth Vader cardboard standup, so she slapped a “Star Wars” Day sticker on it and made buttons to give away as prizes for the first “Find Yoda” contest. The Yoda then was a lot smaller than this year’s stuffed one. “I made an origami Yoda, a really simple one” based on the directions in the popular kids book “The Strange Case of Origami Yoda.”

And, yes, that title is among the many “Star Wars”-related books available for checkout through the Stanislaus County Library. As for the movie saga, the films almost always are out on loan, said O’Brien-VerHulst, who enthusiastically added: “But you can get on the hold list!”

The library is at 1500 I St. downtown. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. To learn more, call (209) 558-7800.

This story was originally published May 4, 2015 at 12:02 PM with the headline "Modesto library holding ‘Star Wars’ Week activities."