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(Updated at 9:09 p.m. clarifying that Crescent City Cinemas will not show "Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi" on April 28.)

Three members of the Crescent City Council exuded enthusiasm at the prospect of Beachfront Park being a hub of activity during the Forest Moon Festival in June.

But while councilors approved the city’s proposed Jedi Training Course, an obstacle course that will also include padawans making their own light saber, Economic Development and Recreation Director Ashley Taylor said participation may have to be limited.

“We won’t be able to accept every single person who wants to participate, however the draw itself will be good,” she told councilors on Monday. “And also the film commission, they’re talking with other vendors who just in general want to be part of the event. Maybe there’s not room for them in Humboldt and they may come up here. There are going to be other things in the park that day other than the training course.”

Crescent City Police Chief Richard Griffin said he anticipates the level of community participation to be comparable to the Fourth of July.

“I would be surprised if it doesn’t end up being that big,” he said. “There’s a lot of potential that even what we do daily with visitors, the amount of visitors that come to this area anyways on a yearly basis just to see where Star Wars was filmed and be in the area is tremendous.”

As a result, the City Council pledged a not-to-exceed amount of $5,000 toward the city’s participation in the Forest Moon Festival. This money will go toward the materials needed to construct the Jedi Training Course, according to Taylor. It will also help pay for port-o-potties and dumpsters at Beachfront Park.

Councilors Jason Greenough and Kelly Schellong were absent.

The Forest Moon Festival is a two-day two-county celebration commemorating the 40th anniversary of “Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi.” Hosted by the Humboldt-Del Norte Film Commission, the festival will feature four screenings of the third film in George Lucas’s original trilogy, including one in Del Norte County.

The film commission is also hoping other agencies will offer other activities to complement the festival as a whole, Taylor told councilors.

Though the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors on April 11 approved the use of Florence Keller Park as a potential movie theater, the film commission is hoping to screen Return of the Jedi at Beachfront Park on June 2, Taylor said.

“What the film commission would like to see happen here in Del Norte County is (going to be) kind of a mirror of what they’re doing in Humboldt,” she said. “At Sequoia Park, they’re going to be doing a showing on June 2 of Return of the Jedi and they’d like us to do the same thing here at Beachfront Park. Also on Saturday, the following day, they’re going to have a Jedi training course of sorts and they’d like to see us do a very similar thing at Beachfront Park.”

According to Angela Greenough, whose husband is on the City Council and who’s helping with the festival, people will be attending the festival who are dressed as Star Wars characters. Since those costumes can range in price from $3,000 to $5,000, Greenough said, they need access to changing rooms and restrooms that are private.

There’s also some concern as to how many people could attend a local screening of Return of the Jedi. Last week, Film Commissioner Cassandra Hesseltine told the Outpost that about 750 people showed up to a screening of the film in Eureka years ago.

On Monday, Greenough said that finding a place big enough to accommodate that many people was a big topic of discussion.

Festival organizers also discussed holding the screening at the Del Norte County Fairgrounds, but thought an outdoors pace was more appealing.

“Their screen is as big as a box truck,” Greenough said, adding that the Humboldt-Del Norte Film Commission is providing an inflatable screen as well as the sound system. “The big challenge is we don’t know how big we’re going to get, but we want to make sure we’re accommodating for everyone to see this film.”

Though Greenough told the City Council that Crescent City Cinemas will be screening the film for the 40th anniversary, Emily Butler, the theater's assistant manager, said they will not be showing the movie.

District 2 Valerie Starkey told Councilors that while Florence Keller has been approved as a movie venue, even if 500 people attend, the county park doesn’t have the capacity to accommodate them.

Hesseltine and her team at the film commission visited Beachfront Park on Thursday when it was windy so “they could see if this is something that could work,” Starkey said.

“(We hope) to make it a week-long festival,” Starkey said. “C-3PO and R2-D2 have been spoken for, but we’ll have Chewbacca and Storm Troopers at various places throughout the community.”
Both Starkey and Greenough are hoping to make the Forest Moon Festival an annual event.

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