Navajos rush to pick up Pendleton Star Wars blankets
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero Star Wars characters pose for the camera Thursday morning at the Navajo Arts & Crafts store in Window Rock. Star Wars theme Pendleton blankets went on sale at the store with nearly already having been sold.
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
Maintenance worker at Navajo Arts & Crafts Norma Wauneka carefully places a Star Wars banner over the front entrance of the store Thursday morning in Window Rock.
WINDOW ROCK
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
Star Wars characters pose for the camera Thursday morning at the Navajo Arts & Crafts store in Window Rock. Star Wars theme Pendleton blankets went on sale at the store with nearly already having been sold.
When Star Wars themed Pendleton blankets arrived in town Thursday, Diné fans rushed to pick them up.
Navajo Arts and Crafts Enterprises received a shipment of 80 Star Wars-themed Pendelton Woolen Mills blankets on Thursday at the store in Window Rock, and within two hours of opening sold well over half the shipment.
“It looks like we’re going to sell out today,” said J.T. Willie, marketing director at the shop along Highway 264.
According to a September press release, Pendelton partnered with Lucasfilm and Disney to create four designs of hand-numbered blankets based on the three classic films and the new film to hit theaters in December.
The four blanket designs featured characters from each film. The “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” blanket features Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia Organa, Han Solo, and Darth Vader. “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back” depicts the iconic villains of the series, Darth Vader and the Stormtroopers. The “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi” blanket bears an image of the Death Star, TIE Fighters and Star Destroyers of the Galactic Empire facing off with the Millennium Falcon and the X-Wing fighters of the Rebel Alliance.
Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
Star Wars fan Jayme Platero, left, from Fort Defiance, buys six Star Wars themed Pendleton blankets Thursday morning at the Navajo Arts & Craft store in Window Rock. Platero said she bought two for her children and four for herself.
The fourth blanket displays the image of Kylo Ren from the highly anticipated “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens.” Trailers for the new film indicate that the shadowy character has an obsession with Darth Vader. Some fans – a pop-culture phrase derived from the word “fanatic” – of the film on hand to pick up blankets had such an obsession too.
Grace Curley, 49, of St. Michael’s, said she and her family are all fans of Star Wars. She heard an announcement that the store had Star Wars blankets on KTNN, and rushed over.
“My kids are into Star wars and they just love all the characters,” she said. “They’re looking for Chewbacca, and my husband loves Darth Vader.”
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Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow