This in from Becky at Prescott:
We called our Grand Finale “Other Worlds,” and took it beyond the One World, Many Stories theme. The biggest hit was an appearance by Han Solo, Princess Leia, an Imperial Commander and an Imperial soldier. Kids (and some grown-ups) were bug-eyed to see heroes and villains from Star Wars up close and in person. The Imperial soldier had an awesome helmet with lights, and when he walked up to kids and said “check out a book,” they did!
We also had 2 crafts to make – light sabers and rockets. The light sabers were easier to make and much more popular than the rockets. So popular, in fact, that Princess Leia and the Imperial Commander each made one and took them with out into the galaxy. I had to remind the Imperial Commander more than once that light saber dueling was not allowed in the library.
The Star Wars characters are members of an international organization, whose members make and wear authentic Star Wars costumes, and portray Star Wars characters at fundraisers, libraries, hospitals, etc. They were wonderful to work with, very professional, even though they are all volunteers. They stayed in costume for 1-1/2 hours and brought temporary tattoos. Princess Leia brought trading cards and signed them. And the cool factor? Out of this world – even my volunteens were thrilled!
If you are interested in having Star Wars characters at your library, here are the websites of the 2 groups:
The Good Guys are at http://www.rebellegion.com/.
If you walk on the dark side, the 501st Legion is for you: http://www.501st.com/
I got our light saber craft from http://www.jedibroadsquad.net/FoamSaber.html and with pool noodles on sale at Wal-Mart, it was a pretty cheap craft.