29 Oct Edgar Allen Poe Set up instructions

Subject: The Raven at Gate 2 — A Set-Up Day Lament

Once upon a Thursday dreary, while we readied, worn and weary,
For the commerce yet unspoken through the South Fairgrounds’ great door—
There came a tapping, soft and steady, at the gate we call Gate 2, ready—
A summons not of terror, but of trade, and something more.
’Twas the whisper of endeavor, the hum of deals in store—
Merely this, and nothing more.

The hour, dear Legion, is at hand.
From the eighth stroke of the clock till the fifth’s fading chime,
The gates shall part—no spectral hand, but human toil sublime.
Raise your booths like monuments to enterprise,
Each wall a ward against chaos, each showcase a gleam in Fortune’s eye.

And when dawn’s pale light returns upon the morrow,
At the half-hour past seven, ere the day is yet awake,
You, the Fearless Legion, may again cross the threshold—
Carts clattering, wares gleaming like treasure in the gloom.

Hold your aisles as sacred halls;
Keep your spoils in fair array, and let no booth descend to madness.
For in this hall of commerce, triumph is not conquest—
But the soft chime of a cash drawer closing.

Thus we march beneath fluorescent stars,
Bound not for glory, but for good business.
Booth Assignments: West Expo Spaces begin with a “W.”

—The Keeper of the Fairgrounds

West Expo

East Expo