The eastern Iowa community that bills itself as the “Future Birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk” is hoping to break a world’s record today for the largest number of people dressed as Star Trek characters. Bill Poch, an organizer of the 26th annual TrekFest in Riverside, says loyal Trekkies will be “beaming down” by the hundreds for the world’s record attempt.
“You have to come in costume, fully in costume, and you have to have identification, a driver’s license or some kind of identification,” Poch says. “It’s been set somewhere in Europe and it shouldn’t be any trouble to break.” The folks from the world’s record book have very particular rules, Poch says, and he’s confident plenty of Star Fleet officers, Romulans and Vulcans will be in Riverside for the event.
Poch says, “The Guinness record is right at 100 and the unofficial record is like at 1000 but again, that thousand is not recognized because they didn’t meet some of the requirements.” He says the goal is to have between 750 and 1000 people in costume in Riverside at midday, after the TrekFest parade. Since the late 1960s, there have been all sorts of Star Trek incarnations on television, in the movies, in books, comics and online productions. Poch says people are welcome to dress up as characters from any of the Trek versions — they’ll all count.
Poch says, “I’m not an expert on the Klingons and so forth, but the TV series will be the primary goal, to follow that line, but any of the costumes will be acceptable.” One highlight of the day’s events will be an appearance by actor Walter Koenig , who played Chekov in the original series.
For more information, visit: “www.trekfest.com“.