Erikstormtrooper wrote: If they don't want to go that route, they should at least keep the fundraising on the down-low.

But that's why this is possibly a good test case, they are not just playing off one genre, they are blending and mixing from a wide variety of things. They poke/pull at/from a larger group of resources: http://neworleans.about.com/od/festivalsevents/a/Chewbacchus-Sci-Fi-Mardi-Gras.htm

Chewbacchus claims to be a "Carnival Krewe for the most revelrous of Star Wars Freaks, Trekkies, Whovianns, Mega-Geeks, Circuit Benders, Cryptozooligists, UFO Conspiracy Theorists, and all the rest of Super Nerdom."