This past Saturday, my wife Lulu, our son Scott, and I trekked down 7th Avenue, one of the main commercial stretches in our neighborhood in Park Slope, Brooklyn for an event at a local toy store surrounding the release of the new book "Lego Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary". We had received a flyer for the local shindig a few days earlier and referred to it regularly to build excitement for the promised highlights:

-- Free raffle!
-- Free Lego Star Wars goodies (while supplies last)!
-- Meet Storm Troopers, take pictures (2-4PM)!
-- Dress for the event and participate in our costume contest!

We didn't realize at the time that this was a nationally coordinated "celebration" to help promote the ridiculously fun and endlessly browsable "Visual Dictionary" which Scott had been completely coincidentally gifted with a few days earlier. Honestly, we didn't need a new book as an excuse to party down. We just needed the promise of Star Wars fans, characters, and maybe some free goodies.

We grabbed our camera and, having missed the bus, walked the 20-odd blocks (putting the "journey" back into "the hero's journey") to the independently owned and operated Little Things toy store. We didn't have much of an idea of what to expect, but when still a few blocks away balloons and a definite line outside the store became visible, we realized that we weren't heading into a small event so much as Star Wars Celebration Jr.

At the Star Wars festooned entrance of Little Things a card table served as home base for the small army of purple shirted employees directing traffic and handing out Lego Star Wars activity packets (and crayons to complete them), stickers, and DK Publishing promotional posters. Star Wars music played, new Star Wars science-skewing offerings from Uncle Milton were on display, and -- most impressively -- there were lots and lots of fans. For the most part, this event was populated by parents who were chaperoning their often costumed superfan kids. We joined the line which ran next to the parked cars on the street, penned in by police barricades as if it was New Year's Eve or a political rally, three families behind a woman who may or may not have been Kathryn Erbe from "Law & Order: Criminal Intent". One of the surreal things about living in New York City is that you'll have semi-regular sightings of media personalities. There's Al Sharpton walking past Penn Station on his cell phone! Don't look now, but Jennifer Connelly is right behind you shopping at FAO Schwarz! Why is Ethan Hawke sitting in the corner of this dive bar with his dog? (True stories all.) Then again, maybe I didn't have a "Detective Eames" sighting after all, but had instead profiled one common type of Brooklyn mom: approachable looking, stylish in black, but would not hesitate to drop a perp in a heartbeat if provoked.

Directly in front of us in line was an 8-year-old blonde girl done up from head to toe in full Ahsoka Tano regalia. Other bite sized clone troopers, Anakin Skywalkers, Princess Leias, a Captain Rex, and even some kid randomly dressed as a very Earth-bound SWAT trooper milled around the entrance either waiting for their turn to enter the store or excitedly emerging and jabbering about the experience. The kids battled the strong winds as they focused the mazes and word searches in their activity packets. At one point, the wind ripped a poster from Scott's hand and sent it flying out into 7th Avenue traffic, not to be easily recovered. Scott let out an anguished cry, which quickly stopped as Ahsoka, who had been wandering around moments before, suddenly heroically reappeared with a replacement poster for Scott. The Force is strong in that one.

Finally it was our turn to enter the store. Inside, the Little Things staffers were doing their best to direct traffic back to the photo op and accommodate the paying customers on their way out. Little Things, like many shops in Brooklyn, occupies a somewhat small space. On any other day, you wouldn't even notice that while shopping for carved wood pull-toys or a Playmobil set. But for this visit, organized chaos was the order of the day. We dutifully waited in the fast moving line for our chance to pose with the ...wait, those aren't stormtroopers! The flyer said stormtroopers! Apparently the Empire had been run out of town as we were greeted by a more decidedly heroic trio for photographic fun: a Jedi knight, Princess Leia, and a female Rebel fleet trooper. Having seen some staggeringly good 501st Legion stormtrooper costumes at events over the years, Lulu and I were a bit disappointed that we'd be missing out on the trooper fun today, but Scott was oblivious to the switcheroo and happily posed with the heroic assemblage. Though the three costumers were real troopers (well, technically only ONE was a trooper, but all jokes aside...), I got the sense that even they had underestimated the turnout and unrelenting waves of pint-sized fandom. The Jedi had a dazed look in his eyes as if it was his first day in the Goofy costume at Walt Disney World. "When does my handler appear to take me to a water break? Where do all these kids COME from?!"

The picture taken, we tossed our contact info into a raffle bucket in the hopes of winning a pile of Star Wars booty and began working our way out of the store. As it became obvious that letting Scott pick out a small Star Wars Lego set as promised (oops) would be impossible amidst the overcrowded chaos, we got to have a brief talk about being grateful for what you DO have. Crisis averted.

Besides, all was forgiven when a trip the following day to the flagship Toys 'R' Us store in Times Square not only yielded some Star Wars Legos but also a photo op with Spider-Man. See? Those celebrity sightings are everywhere.