Actor William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk from the original “Star Trek” television show that aired from 1966 to 1969.
March/April 2026 (Volume 18, Issue 2)
By Jerry Harrington
“I’m from Iowa. I only work in outer space,” said the fictional character Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise in the 1986 movie “Star Trek: The Voyage Home.”
By the time actor William Shatner, who famously portrayed Captain Kirk for decades on television and film, spoke those words in the fourth Star Trek movie, many Iowans were already well aware that the starship captain would someday call the Hawkeye State his home. They had only to cite the annual celebration of Kirk’s future birthplace in the Washington County town of Riverside—and the national and international publicity surrounding it.
A year earlier, the Riverside City Council had established that the fictional James Tiberius Kirk was to be born in Riverside on March 22, 2238, raised there by parents George and Winona Kirk. (The Star Trek franchise claims Kirk’s birthdate to be March 22, 2233.) This declaration spawned Riverside’s Trekfest, a celebration of this future birth of the space-faring captain of the USS Enterprise who will save the galaxy and numerous planets time and again in the future.
If you doubt the facts of this birth, you’ll have to take it up with the organizers of Riverside’s Trekfest. To date, these volunteers have staunchly stood by its city council’s declaration and have welcomed to Riverside the last weekend in June a myriad of Vulcans, Klingons, Romulans, Trekkers, Trekkies (There’s a difference. See the postscript.) and intense fans of the multiple Star Trek television and movie series.
Star Trek Book
It all began with a single line in an obscure book and a conversation about attracting visitors to the town.
Steve Miller of Riverside had long been a fan of the original “Star Trek” television series that first aired from 1966 to 1969, watching it as a child. At the time, he came across a book, “The Making of Star Trek,” written by series creator Gene Roddenberry and Stephen Whitfield. In this book, claiming to provide readers information on how to write for television, Miller came across a description of the fictional James T. Kirk, describing him as “about thirty-four years old and was born in the State of Iowa.”
“Well,” recalled Miller in an interview on Iowa Public Television, “being from Iowa, that was something I latched onto.”
Riverside’s annual Trekfest includes a parade, among other activities. This year’s event, Trekfest 41, will be held on June 26-27. For details visit trekfest.org. Fans who would like to volunteer for this year’s event, or participate in the parade, should visit the nonprofit Riverside Area Community Club at riversideareacommunityclub.com or on Facebook. Photo by JMRImages, courtesy of Riverside Area Community Club-Trekfest Facebook page
Though the “Star Trek” television series was cancelled after three seasons in 1969, it found a new rebirth through syndicated reruns, an animated Saturday morning series and a number of successful motion pictures featuring the old cast. This was accompanied by a national explosion of Star Trek conventions where fans of the phenomenon—young and old—convened by dressing in Star Trek costumes and enthusiastically taking part in Q&A sessions with actors from the original show.
This renewed Trek interest was on Miller’s mind while serving on the Riverside City Council in the mid-80s and when asked by Mayor Robert Schneider to come to the next meeting with ideas to promote the community. Miller decided that claiming Kirk’s Iowa birth for Riverside was just what the town needed.
“I brought it up at the council meeting—there were only three others there,” Miller said, “and they sort of said, ‘Mmmm, well…’ And then one guy spoke up, ‘You know, there’s not much going on here. This might help.’ So he seconded the motion and it passed, 4-0.”
And, with that vote, James T. Kirk was officially a future Riverside citizen and plans for an upcoming Trekfest were set in motion to celebrate this upcoming event.
Miller called up Tom Walsh, a reporter for the Cedar Rapids Gazette, and the newspaper ran a front-page story the next day, March 27, 1985. “And then,” said Miller, “it took off.”
The Gazette story resulted in an explosion of media coverage within Iowa and across the U.S. Virtually every television station in Iowa ran a story on the town’s future starship captain’s hometown and Miller was also inundated with interview requests from radio stations and newspapers. Mayor Schneider had to take a vacation week from his job to do phone interviews. The New York Times carried a story on its news service and the BBC in the United Kingdom mentioned it in its news broadcast.
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