Michigan, How Are You Going to Celebrate May the Fourth Be With You?
May the Fourth be with you! You’re going to hear that a lot soon. And with that will come a Wookie-sized level of Star Wars shows, themes, and events! And Michigan is no Nerf herder when it comes to May the Fourth. There will be a ton of Star Wars events going on in Michigan.
May the Fourth’s origins are a little mysterious. And the phrase has mixed origins. On Starwars.com, they say it started when newspaper writers used the phrase in 1978, a year after Star Wars A New Hope was released. Shirts, buttons, and other appearances of the phrase started appearing. Margaret Thatcher became prime minister on May 4th, 1979 and The London Evening News put a full-page ad saying “May the Fourth Be With You, Maggie Congratulations”
May The Fourth Be With You!
A very interesting use was in Count Duckula in 1988, where the phrase was mentioned in an episode called “The Vampire Strikes Back”. And with the growth of the internet, the phrase started to become more than a phrase. From Facebook groups to various appearances around the web.
And then in 2011, Sean Ward and Alice Quinn organized the first celebration at the Toronto Underground Cinema. There was a trivia game show, costume contests, and celebrity judges.
Finally, in 2013, Disney observed the day as an official holiday and of course, rolled out the events and festivities. And official products I am sure hit the shelves.
Lightspeed to today and May the Fourth is still going strong and stronger every year with new Star Wars cinema and shows being added every day. But the question is, how are you going to celebrate it? We have some events in Michigan you MAY want to check out for a great May 4th.
