Forest Moon Festival brings Star Wars fans to Redwood Coast filming sites
Star Wars nostalgia is turning Endor filming sites into hotel nights, restaurant traffic and off-season attention across the Redwood Coast. The festival opened May 28 and runs through May 31.
The Forest Moon Festival opened as more than a nod to Star Wars fans. Across Humboldt and Del Norte counties, the event is turning the Redwood Coast’s Endor filming sites into a tourism draw that can fill hotel rooms, boost restaurant traffic and put Eureka, Crescent City and the redwoods back in the spotlight.
Running May 28-31, the multi-day festival centers on the Forest Moon of Endor from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and uses the region’s actual film landscape as the main attraction. Visit Humboldt says the Redwood Coast was the battleground between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire more than 40 years ago, and the Humboldt-Del Norte Film Commission says the broader film legacy here stretches back more than a century.
That history is the engine behind the weekend’s mix of screenings, site tours, costumed characters and outdoor events. The opening day included a private screening of A Disturbance in the Force at the Redwood Coast Museum of Cinema, followed by a live Q&A with director Kyle Newman. The official lineup also includes Matt Michnovetz, known for The Clone Wars, Rebels, The Bad Batch and the new Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord series, along with Kevin Thompson, who portrayed more than 20 Ewoks in Return of the Jedi. Tracy Thompson and Mike Hansen are also listed among the 2026 guest appearances.
Friday pushed the festival into both Eureka and Crescent City, tying it to local foot traffic as much as fan traffic. In Crescent City, the schedule included a beachfront screening, while the region’s self-guided film-tour map and Redwood Coast Film Experience app helped steer visitors toward locations tied to Return of the Jedi and other productions, including Jurassic Park: The Lost World and E.T.
The festival’s outdoor focus gives the North Coast a branding edge that convention-center events cannot match. Twilight walks through the Redwood Sky Walk added a site-specific experience, while the weekend closed with a pancake breakfast and a screening of Spaceballs in honor of Mel Brooks’ 100th birthday. On Saturday, May 30, Sequoia Park Zoo and the Humboldt-Del Norte Film Commission hosted Forest Fest from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. as a 21-and-over event with food, drinks, entertainment and twilight access to the Redwood Sky Walk.
The Humboldt-Del Norte Film Commission, recognized by Humboldt and Del Norte counties and the California Film Commission, says it offers free services to productions. Visit Del Norte County says George Lucas’ crew employed 100 Del Norte residents as storm troopers during the filming of Return of the Jedi, a reminder that the film legacy is not just cinematic history but local labor history, too.
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