Vulcan beams for Spock Days after pandemic hiatus grounded the fun

The town of Vulcan welcomed visitors from across the province and beyond to celebrate Spock Days and the return of their Vul-Con convention after a two year hiatus last weekend.

“The Spock Days weekend is a combination of both community events and our celebration of being the Star Trek capital of Canada,” said Bonnie Ellis, community services manager for the Town of Vulcan during an advance interview last week.

Many gathered along Main Street to enjoy the parade June 11 where two special guests waved to those in attendance.

“All those who love Star Trek or want to love Star Trek come out in their cosplay outfits and take part in the parade. This year we have two celebrity guests that are taking part in the parade, John Billingsley and Chris Doohan,” said Ellis.

Billingsley and Doohan also took part in the unveiling of a new town sign in the presence of very excited members of the Star Trek community.

Billingsley played Dr. Phlox on Star Trek: Enterprise from 2001 – 2005, and Doohan is the son of James Doohan who played chief engineer Montgomery Scott, or “Scotty”, on Star Trek: TOS in the late 1960s.

The new Vulcan sign stands in front of the Vulcan Tourism and Trek Station.

“During all of this we have a slo-pitch tournament, a Taste of Vulcan for people to come and try a bunch of the different restaurants, what they have to offer and also we have a family fun fair and a petting zoo,” said Ellis.

Those part of the Star Trek community had the opportunity to enjoy Q&A sessions with their celebrity guests, have pictures and autographs sessions and in the evening they had a dinner and dance with them.

“We had planned to have guest stars coming in 2020 and 2021 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions it was just too hard,” said Ellis.

She said they had their parade in 2021 and a few events but they were unable to hold their annual Star Trek convention, Vul-Con, until this year.

Ellis said the Town of Vulcan has an agreement with CBS to be able to use Star Trek in their promotion of the town.

“We’re only under 2000 people on the secondary highway on Hwy 23 and through the pandemic we had about 10,000 people come per year to come and visit the town,” said Ellis.

She said the tourism is mostly thanks to the Star Trek community stopping by to see the different amenities the town has to offer.

“If you look up you’ll see our cool street lights, if you look down our crosswalks have the delta shield in them and if you look around you’ll see the statue to Leonard Nimoy and quite a few different things in town,” said Ellis.

She said that when Mr. Spock himself came to Vulcan in 2010 the town more than doubled with people coming to see him from all over the world.

“We’ve enjoyed our association with Star Trek. It put us on the map worldwide and we have people coming from far and wide to see what the town of Vulcan is all about, it’s only logical,” said Ellis.

She said that even though Spock Days are over, their doors are always open to visitors of all backgrounds.