Trekfest marks its 30th year

RIVERSIDE - Thirty-one years after Steve Miller laid claim to Capt. James T. Kirk's birthplace, Riverside will welcome another edition of the small town's enterprise.

'Besides the decision to marry my wife and have children, it's probably the only good idea I've ever had,” Miller said.

Trekfest XXX started June 27 and continues Saturday, June 28, with this year's 'Generations” theme, a reference to the series' seventh feature film that included both William Shatner as Kirk and Patrick Stewart who portrayed Capt. Jean-Luc Picard.

On Saturday, cast members JG Hertzler and Robert O' Reilly, best known as General Martok and Chancellor Gowron, will make a paid appearance at Riverside City Hall. Gowron first appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation and later on Deep Space Nine with Martok.

Hertlzer said he constantly sees how only Star Trek fans, like Miller, can do incredible things.

'(The Star Trek) world is filled with people who do things like that and you don't really see that we other shows,” Hertlzer said. 'Other fans will make conventions, but they only last four or five years then they dissipate.”

The hybrid celebration features a mixture of traditional fair events, such as a demolition derby and live bands, paired with exchanges, trivia and a parade for Trekkies.

'Some people think it's only for Trekkies, but there is stuff going on all weekend that everyone can enjoy,” said Riverside City Council member Ralph Schnoebelen.

Before Trekfest started, then-City Council member Miller read 'The Making of Star Trek,” which said the iconic James T. Kirk played by William Shatner was born in a 'small Iowa town.” Realizing that no community had stake its claim as Kirk's future birthplace, Miller proposed an official ordinance.

The move received Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's blessing and Riverside was thrust into the middle of the craze surrounding the original series.

'It built the community into something and gave it an identity,” Miller said. 'We get calls and visits from people all over the world and it wouldn't be that way without Star Trek. We gave Star Trek a home.”

Over time, Riverside shifted its identity to coincide with Star Trek, which included renaming its annual town festival of Riverfest to Trekfest, a year after the ordinance passed. The town also changed its motto to 'Where the Trek begins.”

Miller credits the Riverside Area Community Club with carrying on his idea and shaping it into what Trekfest has become. But recent years brought financial uncertainties that almost forced scaling the event down.

'We were so far down (in 2011) that we didn't think we could put on a parade,” said Mike Meinders, president of the Riverside Area Community Club. 'We didn't want to see it go away.”

Last minute cash donations saved the 2011 event and Meinders said the group has mostly rebounded, a resurgence he credits to 'nerds being the new sexy” thanks to 'The Big Bang Theory,” a CBS show that frequently invokes Star Trek. The 2009 and 2013 Star Trek films also helped drive interest back.

The next step, Meinders said, is to get young people involved, so they can 'carry the torch on” to ensure Riverside will have a large welcoming party when Kirk finally arrives.