San Fran, CA EVENT: Modesto Celebration of Lights Parade Dec 5th

Scott Simpson from the RL & 501st is organizing our second entry into the Modesto Festival of Lights parade. He wants this to be a fun event that includes friends and family. I asked him if it would be OK to extend this to SFFF and he said OK

Last year our group won the entry for best non-profit group!

[image=http://photos.imageevent.com/kay_dee/rebellegion/modestoparade/websize/IMG_0112-copy.jpg]

This year's parade theme is "Hollywood Holidays". That's pretty appropriate for the Hollywood blockbuster known as "Star Wars" wouldn't you say?!

If you don't have a costume (or one to borrow) or are just not into the costume thing, we can always use photographers and handlers help us pin on our lights, get our banners ready, take photos to document the parade, etc.


PHOTOS FROM 2008: http://imageevent.com/kay_dee/rebellegion/modestoparade?n=0&z=2&c=4&x=0&m=36&w=0&p=0

DATE: December 5th

TIME: This is an evening parade. Line up time to be announced. Last year we had to be in costume and lined up by 4:00pm


What do you need to be in the parade?

1) A Sponsor from the Rebel Legion or 501st who is participating in the parade. We have to vouch for you That could be Me, probably Matt if he's going, Rachel...

2)You'll need to wear a Star Wars costume that would either be accepted by the 501st by their standards, or be accepted in the category of 'informal' (our least strict standard) in Rebel Legion. Check with Kay Dee to see if your costume will be OK, or if you might need to borrow a part or two for the parade.

3) What if I don't have a costume, can I borrow one? Yes, for this event you may borrow a costume provided it meets RL/501st requirements and it needs to fit. But remember, some costumes are fragile and expensive so if a friend is not comfortable loaning out a particular costume please respect their personal decision.


4) Can kids participate? Yes, if they have a RL or 501st approvable costume to wear, they can join us.

5) Agree to abide by the Rebel Legion code of conduct (read here >) This is basic stuff, like no vulgar behavior or swearing. And one thing that is very important is being respectful to members of other clubs and not making disparaging comments about them, or getting into arguments.

5) Lights This is a light parade and everyone is required to wear at least two strands of battery powered LED lights (this is per parade entry rules). So there is some expense in purchasing your own strands of battery powered LED lights. Last year we all purchased and wore two strands of multicolored LED lights which we safety pinned to our costumes. (Scott was nice enough to do a big group order. Not sure he is going to do that again.). We all felt that we could have been brighter, so if you can purchase more than two strands, all the better! We need to keep the colors either holiday multi-color (to go with what we have from last year, which many of us will reuse) or white strands.

If you have a specific portion of your costume you would like to accent with a matching strand of colored lights (for example, Jessica wore a blue strand with her blue maribu trim for Padme Snowbunny) that is fine.

This is the source where Scott found bright LED lights last year:
COLORED: http://www.save-on-crafts.com/ledbattery.html
WHITE: http://www.save-on-crafts.com/led2.html

Please consider ordering/purchasing lights early as we had problems last year with some online sources getting back to us telling us they were out of stock.

Handlers: As mentioned above, if you just are not into wearing costumes or don't have one we are all welcome to come participate and enjoy the parade festivities. We can use handlers at the parade staging area to help us pin on lights. We need photographers too! And we can all get together for di

 

Count this Anakin to hunt for younglings that night.

 

You will have to get past this Jedi first.

 

So that's how you rack up TOD credit...

 

TOD = Tour of Duty for the military acronym impaired.

 

I may consider this one but I'm attempting to budget: and buying lights and gas to go beyond the Galactic Rim of the Bay Area Galactic Map would have to be considered first before the feasibility of it all. Gotta play a lot of things by ear at the moment...

 

Besides gas and lights, you may want to budget in thermals (with sleeves ), since it can get colder than a typical Hoth night.

 

Cold won't affect me... I generate more heat that can power some small 3rd world countries. Thus my special ability to fog up windows.

 

Just a note to everyone - there was a post on the 501st forums about someone getting a bad burn from battery leakage. He didn't even feel it and notice it until he got his armor off, it was that fast! He now has to get a skin graft. The acid can burn some materials more than others, so make sure your battery packs are placed in a container of some sort just in case.

Granted, this is a worse-case scenario, but a reason to be more safe than not safe enough.

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/482/picturehq.jpg

(photo with Ged?s permission.)

 

Ummm... where was the battery placed? Was is the battery pack thing from those LED lights you guys used??? That's pretty fierfekking bad for a burn...

 

ming- if you want to participate I can sponser you and give you a ride there. The lights were not that expensive. But i totally understand about the budgeting thing.

 

Thanks Four, I have other issues that I can't go into due to operation security.

Will keep you posted.

 

I want everyone to know that was not an LED light battery leakage. It didn't even happen in the US if I remember his post correctly. This was one stormtrooper in thousands that this happened to. It was unfortunate, but I don't think we should make people fearful of participating in the parade.

Scott Simpson's very simple safety advise to avoid battery leaks... use new batteries! If you are hyper paranoid, make some sort of air tight plastic container or something for the battery pack. Wrap it in duct tape a thousand times, whatever makes you feel safe.

 

Well, I imagine groups of us are gonna car pool. That ends up making the gas more affordable. Two strands of lights are about 10 bucks. So I understand if you don't want to pay for them, when times are tight they are tight.

 

It's also wise to take out batteries from sabers that are just sitting around. I recently had a battery leak in my Obi Ep.3 saber and now the acid is coating the metal. Wonder if baking soda should be used to get it off... will have to look into that but yeah batteries sitting around in sabers that aren't being made anymore = bad for saber.

 

Maybe I'll tag along as SFFF's photographer... my Nikon needs an official work out anyway. I'll pack my gear just in case but I can just sit on the side lines and record the funside of the Force do it's thing.

 

Well, the parade is coming up this weekend!

The street closures happen at 2:00pm so it's usually smart to arrive by then.

We are meeting at our staging area on I street between 16th & 17th at 3:30. Though, Scott Simpson will be there as early as 2:30 to set up the float.

Parking can often be found on 17th street and surrounding streets.

Last year we met up at the Starbucks just after 2:00 to get some coffee & food (there was a deli next door and grocery store too), and those of us who needed some privacy to change used their restroom. The rest of us with jumpsuits, or Jedi costumes that just had tunic to add on changed at our car.

If anyone wants to be in the parade let me know (just needs to be a costume that would be approved by the Rebel Legion at least as "informal"). Or if want to attend as a handler that's fine too.

After the parade we plan to get dinner at Denny's down the street.

 

My X-wing is being modded and upgraded at the moment. The only gear I have is Jedi. However, I am dying to use my new lens for my Nikon so I'd be happy to snap pics. Unless you need more Jedi then I'd be happy to suit up however I still personally can't justify the lights it just annoys me.

 

Hey Ming,

It's up to you. Technically, it's your Jedi costume most desired over the pilot since that is RL approved (as formal even when you fully kit-up!) and the lightsaber goes well with the parade theme of lights and all...

I have two strands of multi-colored lights from last year I'm not using this year you could borrow. But if you are in the mood to be a photographer we could use great pics of the parade too. Just let me know.

 

Ha... as I've gone rogue (DAMN YOU SARAH PALIN, you give all rogues a bad name, dumb fierfekking b#$%^...) from that RL I didn't think anything of mine was approved anymore. As I mentioned before, i'll bring my gear Jedi/camera but I'll see what's needed and act accordingly to the wishes of those involved. I'm content to serve in either capacity.

 

I might go and watch the parade if I dont get pulled for overtime

 

Kathy, I'll e-mail you the dozen or so pics I took.

 

Haven't uploaded the pics at all yet. I just got the gun I'm modding for the Hoth Rebel trooper and it needs lots of work... The Hoth gear also arrived is also gonna take some tweaking...

 

Ming - I'm so glad you were able to march in the parade with us! I guess the easiest solution with the photos is to just give me a CD/DVD at Eva's party? That way you can work on your costume (I understand costume priority!) and I'll upload the photos once I get the disk from you.

I'll try to upload my pictures today.

 

Copy that kat. I'll burn it for ya.