As devoted Star Trek fans worldwide are anxiously awaiting the show’s 30th anniversary on September 8, Hollywood-based Paramount Pictures and Viacom Consumer Products are offering festivities and promotions to commemorate the occasion.

Paramount Pictures is holding a large fan event on September 7 and 8 in Huntsville, Alabama, the home of the largest Star Trek store and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. Celebrities and astronauts are expected to attend. As well, the eighth Star Trek movie, Star Trek: First Contact, will be released this holiday season.

For its part, Viacom Consumer Products will execute promotions with Spencer Gifts, Wal-Mart and other retailers. Starting in September, Target Stores will display carts with licensed Star Trek merchandise.

New products, including apparel from Great Entertainment Merchandising of New York, will also be available from several of the 100-plus licensees for the various Star Trek series and will appear in ’30 Years of Star Trek’ packaging. The 30th anniversary ornament from Kansas City, Missouri-based Hallmark Cards-a model of the original Starship Enterprise embedded with a voice chip of William Shatner as Captain Kirk saying, ‘These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise’-will likely be a hot item.