Arts & Entertainment

Celebs Join Darth Vader at Skywalker Ranch to Kick Off Star Wars-Themed Lightsaber Relay

The 500-mile, Olympic-style event benefits the Make-A-Wish Foundation, with participants running quarter-mile segments down the California coast, passing off a lightsaber.

With the help of a handful of celebrities and Darth Vader, R2-D2 and Bobe Fett, he Star Wars-themed 500-mile Olympic-style lightsaber relay "Course of the Force" between San Francisco and San Diego kicked off this week from George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch in Marin and now heads toward Planet Los Angeles.

All proceeds from the $150 registration fee to run a quarter-mile leg of the lightsaber relay will go to the Make-a-Wish Foundation of California. The registration fee includes a Hasbro lightsaber. The kick-off event in Marin featured Alyson Hannigan (“How I Met Your Mother”) and husband Alexis Denisof (“H+”), Jaime King (Sin City 2 & “Heart of Dixie”) and husband Kyle Newman (director, Fanboys), Chris Colfer (“Glee”), Adrianne Curry (TV personality), Darth Vader, R2-D2, Boba Fett, among others.

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After the Marin kick-off event, the 2nd annual event resumed Wednesday morning at Pier 48 in San Francisco, continued to the Embarcadero, to Fort Mason and the Marina, the Presidio, Crissy Field, down Mason Street and across the Golden Gate Bridge to the Vista Point Overlook where it ended around 11 a.m., Course of the Force spokeswoman Carolyn Zweifel said.

A "Conival" with music, food, drinks, expo booths and music by Journey Unauthorized, a Journey tribute band, was held at Justin Herman Plaza between noon and 6 p.m.

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The lightsaber used in the relay will now be flown on Virgin American Airlines to Pacific Palisades in Santa Monica where the relay will resume Friday.

The relay ends Tuesday in downtown San Diego for the start of the San Diego Comic-Con International Convention July 18-20 that celebrates comics and their contribution to American culture.

The Course of the Force is sponsored by Lucasfilm LTD. and Nerdist Industries, a Hollywood-based creator of genre and popular culture content and events.

–Bay City News Service contributed to this report. Copyright © 2013 by Bay City News, Inc. – Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.


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