Star Wars Day the initial group never received widespread acclaim, the phenomenon spread to college campuses a few years later, and Star Wars Day was born. In 2011, the first organized celebration of "Star Wars" Day took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the Toronto Underground Cinema. Produced by Sean Ward and Alice Quinn, festivities included an Original Trilogy Trivia Game Show; a costume contest with celebrity judges; and the web's best tribute films, mash-ups, parodies, and remixes on the big screen. The second annual edition took place on Friday, May 4, 2012. Fans (even government officials) have celebrated "Star Wars" in a
Star Wars: Thrawn introduced in Zahn's 1991 novel "Heir to the Empire", and became a fan favorite. With the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company, most of the licensed "Star Wars" novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film "Star Wars" were rebranded as "Star Wars Legends" and declared non-canon to the franchise in April 2014. In a prerecorded video, Zahn announced at the London "Star Wars" Celebration in July 2016 that he was writing a new novel for Del Rey Books titled "Thrawn". The same day, Del Rey confirmed on Twitter the novel's spring 2017 release. In a