All over the world fans are gathering to celebrate the countdown to the moment Zefram Cochrane makes First Contact and thrusts mankind into a new era of peace.

Whilst we look forward to the uniting of fans, the shared optimism of space travel and the general geekness of this event, we are really looking forward to a fun, lighthearted atmosphere. This is a great chance to get costumed up but this ain’t no Vicars and Tarts party, more like Vulcans and Warp field specialists knocking back tequila’s like Troi.

The USS Fortitide are organising this event and have a good deal of experience hosting events having hosted two Trekology conventions with a third planned for July this year.

We spoke to Dawn Of The Federation organiser Wil Ross who told us how the idea came about and what we can expect:

The idea for this event came from Lee “Trip” Negus (Crew-member from the Fortitude), he took it to our Captain Raules Davies (The charismatic man who introduces Star Trek on CBS) who gave it a name “Dawn of the Federation”
In the summer of last year, Raules came to me and said “I want you to organise Dawn!”
Although I felt deeply honoured my first thought was “Run, hide and don’t come out of hiding until April 7th 2013!”
But, I soon realised what an opportunity this was to bring us all together and do something truly special!
The idea of the event is to bring together groups and ships from all over the UK under one roof to promote who they are and what they do.
At the same time this gives fans who may not be part of a ship or group the perfect opportunity to join one.
On the day, we will have both dealers and private sellers on site.
The idea of having private people selling arts and crafts or selling uniform accessories or really anything Star Trek related, gives people the chance to make a bit of cash.

Tickets to the event can be booked via the USS Fortitude’s website. It’s also worth checking out their map of other fan groups covering the globe that will be celebrating.

Highlight: A Global link up with other Trek fans groups celebrating

Weird bit: Wondering if we’re still going to be around in 2063 and how we’ll celebrate?

Hope to see you there!