Back To The Future Fans Return To Hill Valley
Sonora, CA — Tuolumne County was the filming location for the fictional town of Hill Valley during the final installment of the Back to the Future trilogy, and there is an event coming up this weekend to celebrate the film.
Return to Hill Valley, a now annual event that helps raise money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, is happening this weekend at several locations including at Railtown 1897 in Jamestown.
Bobby Bennett, who spent over 20 years working in Hollywood as a stand-in for Michael J. Fox, including on Back to the Future III, is one of the organizers. He was in Tuolumne County for 3 1/2 months while filming the movie and later decided he wanted to retire in the area, and now resides in Columbia.
The original Hill Valley set, built in the Red Hills area during the late eighties, was destroyed by a wildfire after the filming, but Railtown also played a significant part in the movie as the Sierra Number 3 locomotive was used to push the Delorean time machine utilized by the main characters (Doc and Marty) up to 88 mph so that they could transport back to 1985.
Tickets are needed for Saturday’s Railtown event from 9:30 am – 11 am.
Hill Valley Festival Celebration is Saturday from noon to 7 pm at the Westside Pavilion at Black Oak Casino Resort. Guests include the Hill Valley Drifters, Cactus Bob, Prairie Flower, Dave Cavanagh and Richard Sholer.
Sunday is an ‘Enchantment Under the Sea Dance’ Experience & Fan Event starring Harry Waters Jr. at the
Hotel Ballroom at Black Oak Casino Resort.
There are also some VIP-only special events like watching the movie, drive-in style, at the film location in Red Hills. More information can be found at returntohillvalley.org.
