Last week I received an e-mail informing me of a “Star Wars Art Show” taking place at a local Vintage Stock location. Star Wars Day events were to include (quoting from the flyer here) “Take Pictures with Star Wars Characters, Star Wars Coloring Table for Kids, Enjoy Frozen Treats from Freddy’s Frozen Custard, and Drawings for Star Wars Prizes.” The show was scheduled to begin at 1pm and end at 4pm.

Let me say up front that there’s really no good way to critique a free event without sounding like an ungrateful jerk. I am going to try and be constructive as possible with what follows.

I will start with the art show, because it is the least that I have to complain about. The artist had about 40 pieces of art on display, and about 20-25% of those were Star Wars related. Some of the others were sci-fi related and the rest was not. If I had any complains about this it would be that I would have liked to have seen a sign with the artist’s name and/or website on it, or some business cards out with contact information (I did not see the artist nearby when we were there).

Next up was the Star Wars Coloring Table for Kids. The table was small (maybe four-feet-wide) and had one metal chair in front of it, meaning that only one kid at a time could sit and color. The table was located directly next to the store’s front door, which is a poor place to put a kids area. Even worse, because of where crowds were gathering, it was impossible to go anywhere else in the store and actually see your children if they were sitting at the coloring table. That meant if your kids were coloring you had to stand right behind them, directly in the path of the store’s doorway, which meant constantly having to say “excuse me/pardon me” to every single person trying to enter or leave the store.

Then there were the costumed characters, who came in around 2pm (we were about to leave when they walked in through the front door). Of the four adults that showed up, two (Darth Vader and Queen Amidala) looked great and were glad to pose with the kids for pictures. The third guy in costume was Indiana Jones. His costume was great and he also posed with the kids, but it was Indiana Jones at a Star Wars event. Then there was the fourth young lady, whose costume consisted of little more than a few strategically placed strips of narrow fabric. I asked a couple of people at the show what character she was supposed to be and nobody knew. Eventually we had to leave the children’s coloring area because this girl was standing right next to it and Morgan kept pointing and saying, “I can see that girl’s butt!” I am sure the people who came dressed up in character did so for free and they are certainly welcome to dress up in any way they wish, but for a kid-friendly Star Wars event, it would have been nice if they had all (A) been in Star Wars costumes, (B) been recognizable, and (C) had been wearing slightly more kid-friendly costumes.

There was a giant prize wheel to spin. I don’t know if that was the advertised “Drawings for Star Wars Prizes”, but that’s all we saw. Both kids spun the wheel; Mason got a 50% off coupon and Morgan won a $5 gift card. Hard to complain too much about that. There was some minor confusion when Mason tried to buy a toy and we discovered that his 50% coupon wasn’t valid for that, but we were able to use the gift card instead.

I did not see nor did we enjoy any frozen treats from Freddy’s Frozen Custard (which is located next door). As we were leaving we were handed coupons for a free mini frozen custard treat. One look at the line coming out of Freddy’s told me that wasn’t going to happen, at least not that day.

This post sounds more negative than the experience really was. The kids (not having seen the flyer) weren’t disappointed at all and had a good time.