TREK EXPO IS CELEBRATING OUR 25th ANNIVERSARY!
JOHN HARPER THREW HIS FIRST CONVENTION IN 1987. LATER THE FIRST TREK EXPO TOOK PLACE IN 1989 ON
THE TULSA FAIRGROUNDS IN THE EXCHANGE CENTER. THAT BUILDING WAS RECENTLY TORN
DOWN BUT WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW MUCH FUN WE HAD AT OUR FIRST CONVENTION.
SOME OF YOU MAY REMEMBER OUR GUEST STARS INCLUDED GEORGE TAKEI, JOHN DeLANCIE,
PETER DAVID,
AND STARLOG EDITOR DAVE McDONNELL.
THROUGH THE YEARS WE HOPE YOU HAVE ENJOYED THE EXPO AS MUCH AS WE HAVE AND HOPE TO SEE YOU THIS SUMMER!
HOW MANY EXPOS HAVE YOU ATTENDED?
2012
the Future of Trek Expo
James
Harper retired out of Trek Expo in 2005, it had been several years since he had
actually been to Trek Expo. His main reason for putting on the event each year
was out of love of his brother John. James was the older brother, and John was
the bigger brother.
John
Connolly can still be found either at the Dealers Tables, Registration, or a
sales table helping out where Needed. He was one of Johns Best Friends.
John
Harper went to be with the Lord. On Feb 26th 2011, after a 40 day
battle with Cancer. He died peacefully in his home, with friends and Family by
his side. He did not want a funeral
or a service of any kind.
We
have chosen this year’s convention to Honor him for bringing a piece of
Hollywood to Tulsa. He loved putting
on a great show that was and will be known around the Country just to make
everyone Smile.
Audree
Harper volunteered for Trek Expo in 2000 due to the persistence of several friends. We are in keeping things like
they always have been a fun, personal able, friendly, event, and we hope to be
Not for Profit by 2012.
Their First Kiss was in 2004 at Trek Expo when everyone was packing up. Trek
Expo was how she and John got to actually know each other, learning what
teamwork is, and they fell in Love. They Dated for Several years, and were
married in 2007.
Trek Expo's staff and volunteers as of 2011 have continued working to keep John's legacy of Trek Expo alive. We are working making Trek Expo a non profit organization by 2013. The underlying reason of most of the staff and volunteers is "this is what we do, without it we have nothing!" We are all honored to have been blessed by knowing the two Johns and James.
A HISTORY OF TREK EXP0
The year was 1989. George H.W. Bush had been in the Oval Office as the 41st President of the United States for half a year. The decades-old Cold War was finally rushing toward its end.
And in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the owners of a comic book and science fiction collectibles store called Starbase 21 were about to launch the gathering of science fiction fans, actors, artists and writers that would come to be called TREK EXPO. No doubt those three men – John Harper, his brother James Harper and their partner John Connolly – could not have known that the Expo would still be a fixture of Tulsa’s summer entertainment season years later.
Among them, they already had years of experience as vendors at similar conventions all over America. They had also organized and presented a hugely successful in-store promotion known as the Robotech Festival, which had many of the trappings of a full-blown convention on a smaller scale. The First of which was in 1987.
They hoped to build on that foundation and bring Tulsa the same sort of show they had seen in so many other cities around the country.
“And I thought it would be fun,” John Harper says, chuckling at his own naivete. “Fun” seldom took such hard work.
The first Trek Expo was held at the Exchange Center building on the Tulsa State Fairgrounds. The main guests were actors George Takei (“Sulu” on the original Star Trek television series) and John de Lancie (“Q” on Star Trek: The Next Generation). Starlog magazine editor Dave McDonnell and novelist and comic book writer Peter David were also in attendance.
Among the local guests were writers Michael Vance and R.A. Jones – and one or both of them has been a guest at every Trek Expo since. For most of the years of its existence, R.A. also served as the show’s Master of Ceremonies, and still does duty as Master of Ceremonies today.
The most unusual location for a Trek Expo came in 1990. Due to various circumstances, the show took place in a large vacant storefront in the middle of the Alameda Shopping Center!
In 1994, the Expo moved its home to the Marriott Hotel. In 1996, as part of the celebration leading up to the 20th Anniversary of the first Star Wars film, the Expo hosted “The Men Behind the Mask”: David Prowse (“Darth Vader”), Kenny Baker (“R2D2”), Jeremy Bulloch (“Bobba Fett”) and Peter Mayhew (“Chewbacca”).
By 1998 the Expo had moved into the expansive Expo Center (now the Quik Trip Center) at Expo Square. For the first time, William Shatner (the original “Captain Kirk”) was our guest.
Also appearing was Gary Lockwood, who co-starred in the classic science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Gary’s penchant for telling great Hollywood stories led to the publication of his autobiography 2001 Memories: An Actor’s Odyssey. Assisting Gary in the writing of his book was the Expo’s own R.A. Jones.
Efforts were underway to bring Shatner’s co-star from the original series DeForrest Kelly (“Bones”) to the next Expo, but the veteran character actor sadly passed away before such plans could be finalized. He is the only member of the series’ original cast not to be a guest at Trek Expo.
The final member of the Trek triumvirate, Leonard Nimoy (“Spock”) made his first visit to Trek Expo in 1999. He was greeted by an Oklahoma heat wave that drove our high temperatures above 100 degrees every day of the show. The Expo Center’s air conditioning units tried valiantly, if somewhat vainly, to keep fans and guests cool.
In 2001, James Doohan (“Scotty”) came to the Expo. Jimmy was already suffering from poor health at that time, and Trek Expo was one of the last conventions he was able to attend before his passing in 2005.
Also attending the Expo that year was TV’s “Batman” Adam West and, from “Hercules”, Kevin Sorbo. At one point, Kevin auctioned off a signed pair of his underwear for charity – with the winning bid coming in excess of $3,000!
That show also hosted one of the few people who have gone into space for real, space shuttle astronaut Rick Searfoss.
By this point, Trek Expo had become such a large and eagerly anticipated event that fans would literally camp out on the sidewalk in front of Starbase 21 for as long as three days in order to be among the first to purchase reserve seat tickets for the show.
In 2005, the year the Expo took up residence in the UMAC John Q. Hammonds Arena, one fan decided he wanted to propose to his girlfriend from the Expo stage. Unfortunately, he was a little too nervous and stage shy to do so himself – so the actual proposal, in front of an audience of hundreds – was made by m.c. R.A. Jones!
She accepted.
But it was actually a different
couple who, the next year, went even further – by actually having their
wedding ceremony performed on the stage of the Expo. The couple each wore
Trek-themed clothing. One of our guest stars who was gracious enough to
actually be a member of the wedding party was former Miss
It will probably be difficult to top that event but, as it enters its third decade, you can be sure Trek Expo will never stop trying.
In the 20 years of its existence, Trek Expo has played host to more than 200 different television and motion picture actors.
More than 100,000 fans have attended one or more of the Expos. They have come not only from all over the United States but also from Canada and Great Britain, Europe, and from as far away as Australia.
Every year since 1999, due largely to the efforts of Michael Vance, Trek Expo
has hosted the Supper With the Stars, with all the proceeds from this
mix-and-mingle event being donated to the
Every Expo has featured a charity auction. Various causes have benefited from this, with nearly $20,000 of the money raised going to award college scholarships to deserving area boys and girls.
The Expo organizers are quick to acknowledge that without the use of volunteers, the show could never happen; having to pay staff to perform their daunting duties would simply cost too much. Over the years, hundreds of these volunteer men and women have worked tirelessly to make it all happen – including scores of Klingons and a Jedi or two!
Their only pay comes in the form of the compliments paid to the Expo every year by happy and satisfied fans.
And, according to organizer John Harper, at the end of the day, the fans’ enjoyment is the most important thing.
“When the fans come in and spend their money with us,” John says, “we want to send them away satisfied. That’s more important than spending time with the stars; making sure we give the fans their money’s worth.”
For 25 years and counting, most of the fans feel that’s exactly what they’ve
received from Trek Expo…and more
R.
A. JONES