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Tvcrazy.net TV trivia and facts sections Fun Facts Home

 Riverside, Iowa The Future Birthplace of Captain Kirk
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Riverside, Iowa is a city located in rural Washington County, Iowa, United States, along the English River on Iowa Highway 22. It is part of the Iowa City, Iowa Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Riverside has proclaimed itself the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk, a character from the television show Star Trek played by William Shatner.

Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, asserts in his book The Making of Star Trek that the character of Kirk had been born in the state of Iowa. This was made canon in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

In March 1985, when the city was looking for a theme for its annual town festival, Steve Miller, a member of the Riverside City Council who had read Roddenberry's book, suggested to the council that Riverside should proclaim itself to be the future birthplace of Kirk. Miller's motion passed unanimously. The council later wrote to Roddenberry for his permission to be designated as the official birthplace of Kirk, and Roddenberry agreed.

The proclamation declaring the city the "Official Future Birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk", signed by Gene Roddenberry, is housed, along with a "Cigarstore Indian"-style carved wooden statue of James T. Kirk, at the Riverside Area Community Club (RACC), in a former beauty salon along Highway 22 in downtown Riverside. A large stone and plaque in the rear of the building purports to be the site of the future farmstead and birthplace of James T. Kirk, and the home of his family, in the c.2230s. On the east end of downtown a former storefront now houses the Riverside Trek Museum & The Voyage Home, a small display of Star Trek and "Invasion Iowa" (see below) memorabilia, with a one-room exhibit of the history of Riverside and the surrounding area.

Nearby, Murphy's Bar and Grill in Riverside displays a special plaque of its own in the back section of the bar. The two sites are popular with tourists during the annual Trek Fest.

The city now hosts an annual Riverside Trek Fest that includes such events as a parade, carnival rides, and fireworks in the evening. The 2003 festival featured a "Spockapalooza" battle of the bands, as well as a lawn mower "trektor" pull. Other Trek Fests have featured minor celebrities as guests, including Grace Lee Whitney (The Original Series' Yeoman Janice Rand), and Charles Napier (The Original Series' Adam of "The Space Hippies" of the episode "The Way to Eden"). In 2008, Trek Fest sponsor the Riverside Area Community Club, invited actor Walter Koenig, to be the Fest grand marshall. Koenig portrayed The Original Series' (TOS') navigator, Ensign Pavel Chekov.

The 2009 25th anniversary edition of the Riverside Trek Fest will feature Fest special guests actors George Takei (TOS' helmsman, Lt. Hikaru Sulu) and Nichelle Nichols (TOS' Communications officer, Lt. Nyota Uhura); Walter Koenig will also be making a return appearance with his costars. Trek Fest's 2009 grand marshall, will be the aforementioned Steve Miller, returning to Riverside for the silver anniversary event.

Although not considered "canon", at least two Star Trek novels had material based in the real city of Riverside. "Best Destiny", an immediate sequel to the events shown in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, depicted Kirk's childhood in Riverside. The novel's opening chapter depicts a pre-teen Kirk, playing with friends in fields, in rushes and river wetland along the English River. This river in real life lies along the south side of downtown Riverside especially bordering the site of the annual Trek fest, and ends the city's boundaries.

Another novel, Final Frontier, not to be confused with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, was written as a "prequel" novel to the original series. Telling about the space adventures of James T. Kirk's father, Commander George Samuel Kirk, Sr., the opening and closing passages of the novel show Captain Kirk, now an adult, mulling over his Starfleet career options shortly after his first five-year mission. The younger Kirk was also shown, walking around the farmhouse owned by his family in Riverside. Its wrap-around veranda had views of both the English River and the Iowa River to the east, which mirror the site of the real "Kirk's Birthstone" marker.

Riverside Official Site