It’s May the Fourth, a day when Star Wars fans proudly proclaim, “May the 4th be with you!”
If you grew up with Luke and Leia action figures, if you’re still struggling with your feelings about the prequels and Jar Jar Binks, or you wish you could adopt Baby Yoda, this is your day.
There are a lot of groups for Star Wars fans to share their love of the franchise with each other and the community.
We have two of them with us today: The Neon City Garrison and the Society of Light Saber Duelists at UNLV.
Judy Peatrowsky is the commanding officer of the Neon City Garrison, part of the 501st Legion. Their group is endorsed by Lucasfilm, Ltd. Statewide, they have more than 50 members.
If you've never seen Star Wars, or maybe need a refresher, @kmkidman's 8-year-old son is an expert and can catch you up in two quick minutes!(If you already know Star Wars well, this is still pretty dang cute.) #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/dEXQnY63oc — KNPR (@KNPRnews) May 4, 2022
“You get a ticket to meet more people, you get to give more back to the community. And you get to bring bright smiles to everybody's faces young and old, multicultural, whatever you want, Star Wars talks to everybody,” she said.
Her uniform on Wednesday was of Juno Eclipse, the private pilot for Darth Vader.
But they do more than dress up, they do charity work. Make A Wish is one of the larger organizations they work with, and they do a lot of hospital visits. They had nine visits set up for May 4.
Peatrowsky said Star Wars is important to her because it was around when she was a kid, and now she gets to pass it on to the children in her family.
“It's just one of those things that transcends,” she said.
At UNLV, a group is going for a more authentic experience. Logan Strong is the director of performances for the Society of Lightsaber Duelists, a registered student organization that’s open to everyone.
While they create original choreography and characters, they also do charity work with Opportunity Village each year. On Wednesday night, they’re performing at UNLV’s late night breakfast. They’ve even performed in Texas, where they’re opening a branch in Austin.
“There is something sort of magical to putting on the show and getting to see the audience cheering for the good guys, or sometimes even the bad guys,” Strong said.
At the start of the semester, they train everyone for a few weeks on the same fight, “which we call the corral,” and after the first three weeks, they get to come up with their own duels.
“From that very first movie -- such a classic, stereotypical hero's journey that the plot almost didn't even matter as much as the world that it set up. It felt so big and so wide and so vast that it really did feel like it had existed for thousands of years,” he said.
Judy Peatrowsky, commanding officer, Neon City Garrison; Logan Strong, director of performances, UNLV Society of Light Saber Duelists
