Celebrate May the 4th at The Gateway in Salt Lake City this weekend

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — This Saturday, get ready to step into a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars fans everywhere will be celebrating “May the Fourth,” also known as Star Wars Day. The Gateway, Urban Arts Gallery and the Clark Planetarium are teaming up for an out-of-this-world celebration.

Jonathan Trujillo King, who works in special events with the Utah Arts Alliance, said visitors will find Battle Bots with the Utah Combat Robotics and plenty of Star Wars-themed treats, such as blue milk, wookie cookies and Mandalorian mandarins.

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In the spirit of Star Wars, there will also be lightsabers and cosplayers portraying fan-favorite characters. Attendees are welcome to dress up too and enter a cosplay contest where winners get to take home FanX wristbands, Megaplex passes and Clark Planetarium passes.

Battle bots at the gallery will be going from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. with other festivities running from 6 to 9 p.m. You can also find Star Wars characters at the Clark Planetarium from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and enjoy $4 planetarium shows.

King said this is an annual tradition that always has a great community turnout. This year, they’re especially excited that May the 4th falls on a Saturday, making it more accessible for people to attend. He said he loves to see how people dress up for the special day.

“It’s an entire day to walk around with a lightsaber and be totally accepted,” King said.

He added that it’s special to watch families come to The Gateway to celebrate together, showing how Star Wars brings generations together.

“The Kids Contest is probably one of our favorites just because a lot of us discovered Star Wars, but these kids grew up knowing Star Wars because of their parents,” he said. “So, while other people were like, ‘hey, you need to watch this Pixar movie,’ there are a lot of parents out there that were you will like, ‘you will learn Star Wars.’ And so, when you ask them, what do you want to be when you grow up? They’re like, I want to be a Jedi or I want to be a Sith Lord. So it’s always fun to see the little kids.”

Urban Arts Gallery is also hosting a “Star Wars Heroes & Villians” exhibit that features over 30 artists’ submissions. It will run through May 31 to keep the spirit of May the 4th alive all month long. There will also be an art stroll for it on May 17th, with The Nerd Store and comic creators attending.

“This has been a group show we’ve done at the gallery for 14 years. We’ve been doing this annually. It’s been a very fun way for artists to express their fandoms which they don’t normally get to do in their professional work, so it’s a fun way to indulge in the things they like,” said Magen Mitchell, marketing coordinator with the Utah Arts Alliance.

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