The Day DeForest Kelley Came to Wenatchee For Apple Blossom

Imagine the impact a huge television star like DeForest Kelley, from the hit show Star Trek had on Wenatchee in May of 1968.  Kelley portrayed Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy on Start Trek starting in 1966 and a host of Star Trek films that followed over the years.

Kelley and his wife were invited to Wenatchee to serve as Grand Marshall of the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival Grand Parade that year.

By many accounts on a recent social media post, he graciously signed autographs and posed for photographs with fans, the instant developing polaroid variety of the day.

One fan in particular was Kristine Smith who drove all the way from Cle Elum with her friend Corean to the big city of Wenatchee, just to see Kelley in person.

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Smith's encounter would mark the beginning of an amazing relationship with the TV  star and his wife until his death that she writes about in her 2015 book "DeForest Kelley Up Close and Personal: A Harvest of Memories from the Fan Who Knew Him Best"  It's available on Amazon

Smith's first encounter with her Star Trek 'hero" was also covered in a newspaper account shared on the Facebook group I Grew Up in Washington

Rocky Grimes shared this photo he snapped of Kelley signing autographs in Wenatchee

Credit: Rocky Grimes/I Grew Up In Washington/Facebook

Kelley died at age 79 of stomach cancer in his home in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles on June 11, 1999.

By all accounts, seeing DeForest Kelley in Wenatchee some three decades earlier was an exciting occasion and left a lasting impression when the Hollywood celebrity came to the Apple Blossom Festival.