Family’s field of Star Wars dreams
Father and son carve out 7-acre shout-out to the Rebel Alliance
LIVERMORE >> A father-and-son team are giving Star Wars fans an artistic tribute so big it’s best seen by plane — unless you have an X-wing fighter handy for a quick flyby.
In time for this week’s debut of the latest installment in the Star Wars franchise, 11-yearold Will Mullen and his dad, Mark, painstakingly plowed a field by their rural Livermore home to create a Rebel Alliance insignia that stretches over seven acres of wild brush and grass. The creation is 200 yards wide.
Will calls it a welcome mat for Star Wars
fans throughout the galaxy.
“We welcome members of the Rebel Alliance and any X-wings to land here in our backyard,” Will, a sixthgrader, said of the heroes who battled the Galactic Empire in the original trilogy. “We are still waiting.”
The duo worked several days over a few weeks to plow and disc wild grass and brush into the shape of the insignia. Deep plows formed the outline. Untouched areas provide the background.
Their property gives them a huge canvas for art, but it has a drawback to winning fans and recognition.
“You can’t make out the shape from the ground,” said Mark Mullen, a media consultant and licensed pilot. He flies airplanes in and out of the family property on an airstrip developed decades ago by Will’s greatgrandfather, Jim Nissen, a founder and first manager of the San Jose Municipal Airport.
Mullen said one local pilot told him of spotting and recognizing the Rebel
Alliance symbol from the air. Mullen also said he expects that some passengers have seen it from jets that fly over the family field en route to Oakland International Airport.
Will said his friends and classmates at Valley Montessori School in Livermore have yet to see his giant creation.
He said his favorite part of the project was doing
the bulk of the plowing and discing that followed an outline of metal stakes placed in locations identified by GPS coordinates.
From the ground, the field of dreams appears to
be smudges of grass and dirt. But from the view of a drone camera rising in the air, the figure took shape as the Rebel Alliance insignia emblazoned on the uniforms and aircraft of Star Wars fighter pilots.
“We wanted to do something big and something with a Star Wars theme,” Will said. “The best part of the project was running the tractor.”
Will got to do the plowing with his family’s new 80-horsepower tractor, where he sits high up in a glass-encased operator chair and sometimes listens to country music.
As he plowed on a crisp afternoon, Will exchanged discing directions by radio with his dad, who watched proudly from just outside the edge of the art. The family’s giant schnauzer, Dexter, frolicked across the Star Wars field in an unsuccessful search for ground squirrels.
Mark Mullen said the project provides a fun and challenging way to use science, computers and GPS devices.
“It was like a science fair project without the science fair,” he said. “It’s a lot more fun than mowing the lawn.”
The family bought their tickets two months ago to see the debut of the new movie, “The Last Jedi,” on Thursday night.