Fellow Star Wars fans and members of Rancho Obi-Wan know what an incredibly busy year 2012 was both for us and for Star Wars itself. With the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm, the announcement of a new trilogy and spinoff movies, and a few details and lots of speculation, Star Wars has again become top-of-mind for the worldwide geek community. So 2013 is going to be another amazing year! Click through for more!
I wish I could say we were prescient when we made the decision in mid-2010 to incorporate ROW as a nonprofit, and remodel and expand the museum so that we could do guided tours. But I think it's safe to say that not even George Lucas at that point had made the decisions that fostered the current excitement.
I hope you've been following us on
Facebook, where we try to keep you informed with all the latest news and photos from the Rancho, along with a few contests and prizes.
Here are some highlights from last year:The Rancho Obi-Wan Experience was one of the most popular booths at Celebration VI in Orlando last August. The lines never let-up, and there was a constant flow of people through-including George Lucas and his fiancée Mellody Hobson, Ian "The Emperor" McDiarmid, and numerous other actors and craftspeople who have worked on Star Wars and The Clone Wars. (We have a limited number of special Celebration VI ROW Yoda patches still available to members here).
- Our first major fundraiser-an eBay auction for 1,950 different Star Wars action figures donated by former ILMer Fon Davis (founder of FonCo Creative Services)-had a high bid of $11,500 and was won by The Strong, a Rochester, NY museum devoted to play and toys.
- In our first year, we've given more than 120 separate tours lasting anywhere from two to four hours, and involving more than 640 people.
- We ended the year with 688 members.
- We've had almost a mind-numbing amount of great publicity from podcasts, to blogs, to some of the preeminent entertainment websites, thanks to the hard work of Consetta Parker, who handles Rancho's publicity. A Google search instantly brings 447,000 results.
- We've gotten a number of significant donations, detailed below.
- We've successfully held our first group events with food and drink. Planning a party? Looking to have a Star Wars marriage? There's no better place than the Rancho. (For details: [email protected] )
We have lots of great plans for 2013 too:
- We'll soon be sending out details of our 2013 membership kit with a brand new Rancho Obi-Wan patch. We'll also be adding a few new or updated items to our store. There is now an option for an automatic annual subscription renewal. Also check for tax deductibility for memberships, tours, and donations.
- We're updating our website with new features including a Members-Only area that will provide a more behind-the-scenes look at what's going on here, a chance to ask questions about collectibles, and an online store for members only.
- We've revised membership and tour levels to give more benefits at lower cost. We've also added a calendar to our website to show when tours can be scheduled (Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays most weeks).
- We're planning some truly special events at the Rancho!
Donors
While the majority of our income is through memberships and tours, we couldn't exist without generous donations from our members. Their names will be posted on our new Wall of Stars, and each donor at the Benefactor and above level gets an engraved acrylic star similar to ones guests got at the Los Angeles charity premiere of Star Wars in 1977. We'd like to publicly thank our first-year donors. They are:
Benefactor Donors
Steve Szyndrowski
Tom Nelson
Matthias Hoefchen
Michael Wistock
Laird Malamed
Patricia Hogan
Sponsor Donors
Adrianne Curry
Lee Kohse
Friend Donors
Arnaud Grunberg
Vanessa Marquez
Donna Godzisz in memoriam for her friend Zach Saunders
Amy Ratcliffe
In-Kind Contributions
Fon Davis for his donation of 1,950 action figures
Consetta Parker and Garet Jones for their donation of a Captain Rex Monument
Martin Ryan for his donation of our Celebration VI Banners
Tom Spina for his donation of a Snaggletooth Mask
Greg Lipton for his donation of a Darth Maul Painting
Thank you again!
Our mission is to Inspire by the Force of Imagination. That, and our numerous charitable and community outreach programs, just wouldn't be possible without your encouragement and continued support. We'll have a special collectible gift for all renewing Charter Year members as just a small token of our thanks. I'd also be remiss if I didn't make special mention of Anne Neumann, general manager and vice president of Rancho Obi-Wan, for her countless hours of work, great ideas, and flawless execution!
My best regards,
