Holmes in the Heartland: Arch Enemies was a huge success! More than 90 Sherlockians from the St. Louis area and around the country spent three days celebrating Sherlock Holmes and mingling with one another.
The weekend officially kicked off on Friday afternoon, but plenty of folks arrived on Thursday and connected with one another. Some went out to dinner, others hung out at the hotel, and one group braved the heat to attend a Cardinals game.
Friday
Friday afternoon found the Sheraton Westport hopping as everyone started arriving. Brad Keefauver captured the energy of seeing everyone with this blog post.
Our first official event was an architectural tour of the St. Louis Public Library, followed by a viewing of the St. Louis Sherlock Holmes Research Collection in the library's Rare Books and Manuscript Room. The Central Branch of the St. Louis Library is a gorgeous place, and the tours highlighted some amazing aspects of the place. And people really seemed to enjoy looking over books from the collection and discussing certain aspects of specific pieces spread throughout the room.
There were a few hours for everyone to grab a bite to eat with friends after the library before our next event, the Just Desserts for Professor Moriarty banquet, sponsored by The John H. Watson Society. Everyone enjoyed treats and coffee in a relaxed atmosphere while door prizes were raffled off to attendees.
Saturday
The biggest day of the weekend was Saturday. The doors opened at 8:30 and the vendors started doing a brisk business right away. While they eyed up purchases, attendees also mingled with one another and viewed the day's door prizes.
The speaker line up was a blast! If we tried to recap every wonderful thing that was said, this blog post would be as long as an encyclopedia. So we will just share the line up along with some pictures here.
Ray Betzner - Professor James Moriarty, and the Quest for Order in the Universe
Kristen Mertz - Moran's Game
Cindy Brown - Guys I Love to Hate: The List Keeps Getting Longer
Steven Doyle - Baron Gruner: The Most Misunderstood Villain in the Canon
Mike McSwiggin - The Ultimate Arch Enemies of the Canon: Dr. Watson and Calendars
Beth Gallego - Enemies for Life: Faces of Moriarty in Sherlockian Literature for Youth
Monica Schmidt - BBC, But You Do Not Observe: Sociopathy and Sherlock Holmes
Joe Eckrich, Rich Krisciunas, & Michael Waxenberg - Jefferson Hope: The Trial of the (19th) Century
As intriguing as these titles and pictures are, they don't even begin to do justice to the fantastic presentations. We were very lucky to have such a great line up of speakers this year!
After a short break and time for socialization in the hotel bar, we were treated to a great buffet dinner. Two of our local members, Adam Presswood and Stacey Bregenzer, gave toasts to Arthur Conan Doyle and villains in the Canon. These toasts will be published in full in our next blog post.
After everyone was fully fed and we went through the dessert table more than a few times, it was time for the night's entertainment: The Alpha Inn Goose Club Trivia Night. Brad Keefauver and his trusty goose companion, Steve Mason, took the group through trivia that spanned decades, genres, and myriads of interests.
Sunday
People who opted for the three-day registration got to visit the St. Louis Arch that included a guided tour of the new history museum, a trip to the top of the Arch, a documentary film on the building of the Arch, and of course some souvenir shopping. We wrapped up the weekend with lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory on Laclede's Landing before everyone finally filtered out on their ways back home.
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