Fans of all ages — carrying all manners of lightsabers — descended on the downtown park for the vigil about 6:30 p.m.

The group walked a somber square, lightsabers lit and pointed toward the sky, around the green, adding streaks of blue, green, red, purple and orange to the Christmas lights already in the trees. The procession wound around the green in near silence.

Patricia Cooper, 27, came Friday carrying a green lightsaber, one of five or six she owns. She grew up with the “Star Wars” franchise and remembers her initial reaction to Fisher’s portrayal of Princess Leia. It’s part of why she fell in love with the series.

“I was amazed because she wasn’t like all the others (princesses) that I’ve always seen,” Cooper said. “She was strong, and that was something I could relate to since I was always a tomboy anyways.”

Jason Johnson, 41, came to the vigil with a double-bladed orange and blue lightsaber — as well as his nephew and two young children, 4-year-old Aaron and 6-year-old Katelund. He’d introduced all of them to the franchise.

“He got me,” 18-year-old Eric Mahurin said of his uncle.

“Yeah, I’m the guilty person,” Johnson conceded.