Dreamworld 2018

Well what a weekend we just had. I guess that is an understatement to say the least. It has taken me a week to try and gather my thoughts and process that the Dreamworld event is no more and will never happen again. The past 9 years has seen this event grow from 38 Redback Garrison members to well over 250 members from the 501st Legion, Rebel Legion, Mando Mercs and R2 Builders clubs, as well as our Brisbricks friends. Let's call this one 266 in total.

This was a little idea I came up with because a lot of us will never really be able to afford going to a Celebration event and this was going to be our little attempt at holding our own event here in Oz. I brought the idea to Kev Vader and he said give it a go. I think we can all say we gave it a great go to create a massive event that we have all seen grow to what it became and to what it represented. It became a meeting point for Australians and in the latter years International troopers to enjoy what our hobby should be about. Hanging out with like minded nerds that like plastic spacemen. It represented a fantastic event that gets no support from anyone other than ourselves to make it work and shine above most, if not all, other events out there. I could be biased though.

For TLC for Kids we raised $10,593.40. A great effort this year!!!!

I'll try and thank everyone, but I will probably miss a few people. Sorry.

Firstly I will thank Kev Vader. Kev thought the idea had legs and pitched to LFL first.....They said yes. Kev believed in my idea and let me just do what needed to be done. Kev also put a lot of his time and money into our name badges, prop transportation and listening to me bounce ideas off him all the time. Thanks for letting me have a go Kev and supporting this idea 100%.

To my right hand man Rick. Most DW weekends you gave up your time out in the park to make sure everyone else was out there where they had to be instead of having fun. The support and belief in for this event helped me get through some very frustrating moments. Thanks mate.

To Draco for running with the concept of SvJ and making it the jewel of the weekend. The many hours that you and the SvJ team put in each year was amazing. The dedication to make a light saber duel, that had no cuts or do overs, look like the real thing was a credit to your leadership and the teams dedication to making it look awesome.

The back drop crews. You all gave up extra time bumping in and out every weekend and also invested money to provide DW with some great back drops to get our photos on. Our first DW had none. Whilst others we sleeping, eating or having a good time you all gave the extra effort to give this event our amazing back drops.

Shutter. You have been there every year either taking photos or finally becoming one of us. You also make sure that the photo guys and gals know what they need to do and help with the wildlife side of things that this weekend has incorporated into it's schedule. You go the extra mile to make sure that we get extra bits of awesome added to our weekend.

The Dicksons. Your family are the start of what made me realise that DW could become what I wanted it to be. An event where troopers and rebels from all over Australia would like to come to this event to make it our very own Aussie Celebration, and help us celebrate you did. Thank you so much for your support over the years.

To the raffle teams over the years, in particular beccyd. Beccyd has always said that she wanted to spend more time in the park and have fun on at least one weekend, but she never left her post. Her stubbornness to sell as many tickets for the raffle each year was inspirational. Beccyd gave her all each and every time she ran that table. Thanks beccyd.

Cutter. You not only looked out for me each year as the weekend unfolded, but you jumped in and organised the parade line ups and a raft of other things over the weekend. Thanks mate.

To our interstate and international brothers and sisters. You all spent so much money to come to out event and help us spread the joy of this hobby. You all didn't have to, but you did and for that you helped make this event into what I wanted it to be. We hope that the Redback Garrison showed you the hospitality we like to give to you all and you enjoyed coming to our event. We are sorry this is the last DW event, but I think we have a roll on now for something new and something different to help bring us altogether again.

To my fellow Redbacks. Over the years we have grown in size as a garrison and over the years you have all travelled to the DW event from all over the state. To those of you that have volunteered to help in anyway to help drive this event on the weekends, thank you. To those that have dropped everything on the day when I've asked you to do anything I need, thank you. To those of you that have asked if I was going alright, thank you. For those that have bought me beer, thank you....unless you didn't read the FAQs and you owed me a beer, than that's your own fault....learn to read!!

To Bruce and the RL guys and gals. You guys that turned up to the Jedi Academy to help us all make it work and just being there on the weekends was fantastic. We did need that stack of jedi for the last one though haha.

To Matt Spol for his help with the GA and for the massive merch run for the final DW. I'm sure he doesn't want to talk to me anymore for quite a while. For the record the GA kids room was the tidiest at the end of the weekend!!

BrisBricks for their support to add that bit of extra awesome to the DW weekends. I know you all loved coming to this event and will miss it as much as we will. Your displays were amazing.

To our DW staff that have helped us over the years. ROY!!!!!!!!!! You all love this dead set legend. Rob Buchanan, who gave us the go ahead for the first DW and then kept it going. Jenna for going above and beyond behind the scenes for the past two years. You all have no idea what Jenna has done for us folks. Chris from the Croc feeds and the whole AWE staff, the sheep shearers for letting us do a show. Andrew and his event staff for the thank you BBQs over the years. Murph for our mixer and thank you BBQ this year. The photo guys and gals. The DW staff in general. We will miss putting a smile on your faces every year.

This is the end of an era for our Garrison. It is a damn shame, but we had a wild ride folks. We got 9 years when in reality we should have only had none. The way you all went out there and held you heads high for DW2018 and just made it the weekend to remember, instead of wallowing in self pity is a credit to you all. We went out on the biggest high ever.

Without you all it would just be this:

   

Was an excellent weekend, well represented by some hard working Tatooine members .

Such an amazing weekend, with some fantastic people!