Into A Large World: Star Wars Woodstock
For three days in 1999, Denver was the center of the Star Wars universe. That weekend, a tradition began that has since spanned four countries and sixteen events attended by hundreds of thousands of Star Wars fans.
Since 2023, I’ve been researching that Denver weekend through internet archives, newspapers, and conversations with the fans who were there and the people that made it happen. Now it’s ready to share with you, my 80 page full-color handmade bookzine called “Star Wars Woodstock: The Complete(ish) History of the First Celebration”.
✨ Inside, you’ll find the story of how that first event came together and all the event features, plus a look at Star Wars convention presence before Celebration and how the fan club and Insider developed in the lead up to that wild weekend. You’ll time travel back to the absolute height of Phantom Menace hype and hear from attendees and organizers about what it was like to be there out in the rain, celebrating Star Wars.
Author: Kara DJ
Page Count: 80
Publication Date: 7th August 2026
There are key moment in the history of the near half-century long Star Wars story that changed the flow of the saga, from onscreen moments to incredible VFX, memorable music to behind-the-scenes decisions made by George Lucas that meant he and Lucasfilm could dictate the destiny of Star Wars in a way other creatives and studios couldn’t. To that list you can add the arrival on 30th April 1999 of Star Wars Celebration, an event that took place at the Wings Over The Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver, Colorado that quite literally changed the destiny of the relationship between Lucasfilm and its fans, and in doing so became as legendary to Star Wars fandom as being at Woodstock was to rock fans. In short, it kickstarted something that has prospered right through to today, and in this wonderful bookazine author Kara DJ not only recounts the events of that amazing weekend, but looks at what came before, and how it irrevocably changed events for a fandom that was as hungry for news, knowledge, interaction and community as any fan community had ever been.
First things first, Kara and her lovingly crafted Into A Larger World project is all about cherishing the saga, and uses a hand-crafted, scissor-cut, glue-stuck, handwritten style to lay that out to us. It’s immediately disarming and charming, reeking of the days when every paper clipping was worth its weight in gold, every black and white 2″ x 2″ photo in a magazine was studied until our eyes hurt. It couldn’t be more inviting if it tried, and as such it makes for a beautiful addition to any collection, but….don’t be fooled into thinking Star Wars Woodstock is simply style over substance, because not only would that do this release a huge disservice, but it also would mean missing out on some juicy information, wonderfully researched details and interviews both fresh and vintage.
Kicking off with a word from Kara herself we leap into setting the scene, looking at the Star Wars convention scene before Celebration, a world led by San Diego Comic Con and smaller events headlined by such legends as Dave Prowse and Kenny Baker, and attended by the godfather of Star Wars Steve Sansweet, one of the architects of Celebration. Many might not know of Celebration Zero, the Starlog event which took place in Los Angeles over the Memorial Weekend of 23rd – 25th May 1987, that memorably saw George Lucas and Gene Roddenberry photographed together for the one and only time (in a snap taken by Star Wars Insider and Star Trek Communicator creator Dan Madsen, no less). As the first decade of Star Wars was celebrated, Bantha Tracks ended and the Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine took off, becoming Insider in 1994, the galaxy was set not only for the Special Editions and wave after wave of new books, comics, toys and collectibles, but also for Episode I and the Prequel trilogy.
As the book begins its dive into the creation, scheduling and running of the first Celebration, it’s so clear that not only are all involved nostalgic for and incredibly proud of the work they did, but also how well supported the event was, by Insider and the wider fandom. We see ticket stubs, those beautiful passes, lanyards, posters and more, the journeys to Denver from every point of the compass, and then the show itself, running through the events from Day One (the now legendary floods), Day Two (The Jar Jar Jam), and Day Three (Anthony Daniels, choked up at the show coming to an end). There’s more in-depth chats with guests, a wonderful and comprehensive guest list, a look at the first Collectors Track led by Gus Lopez, highlights of the weekend, a LEGO demo, the vendors, the food court, toys, the merch store, cosplay, and memories from fans and creatives who were at the event. And photographs, so many candid, fun-packed, amazing photographs as we end the magazine with the legacy of that first show and all the Celebrations that followed.
That’s just scratching the surface. If you have any interest in Celebration, our fandom, or the history of Star Wars then buy this magazine, because its grassroots, homemade charm has perfectly captured what made those early Celebrations so very special, to the fan community and the heartbeat of the saga. If you’re here to celebrate the love, then this is the magazine for you.