Back To The Future Fans Returning 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 coming up this Saturday (September 14) 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.

Previewing Saturday’s happenings, Bennett says, “We are starting the day off at 10 am with a train excursion. There will be actors performing on the train and getting us to the site where Hill Valley will be duplicated. I won’t tell you what we are going to be doing at the town, but there will be some surprises.”

When the train returns, there will be games, a wardrobe contest, a band from the film performing, and a question and answer session. Some of those who will take part will be Bennett, Burton Gilliam (played Colt Pacemaker Salesman in the film), Jeffrey Weissman (George McFly in Back to the Future II and III), and Jay Newington (Local Casting Coordinator for Back to the Future III).

Another star, a replica Delorean time machine, will also be on hand.

Bennett promises there will be some interesting stories shared during the question and answer session, stating, “I’m even going to tell the story about how I almost killed Michael J. Fox while filming Back to the Future III, but if you want to hear the story, you are going to have to come to the festival.”

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.

Saturday’s event from 9 am – 3 pm is free to attend at Railtown but there are fees for some of the special highlights, such as the train excursion (ticket required). There are also some VIP-only special events on Sunday. More information can be found at returntohillvalley.org.