Help Me Spread the Word about Zap2Locke Con: Be There or Be a Dharma Octagon-Thingy!

Hello my dear friends -

Since I last wrote about Zap2Locke Con, Ryan from Zap2it's Guide to Lost and I have hammered out a ton of details for the event, and I have to admit that I'm really excited for it. I haven't asked you for much over the years, but I am asking you now to help me spread the word. If you're not in Chicago but know of other Lost fans who are, by all means, please send them the link to this post or to the Facebook event page and encourage them to stop by. And if you are in Chicago and are able to make it, then I can't wait to meet you and get our nerd on together. We're hoping that everyone who thinks they might come will either RSVP on the Facebook page or email Ryan and/or me to give us the heads up.

Here are all of the logistics, plus a sneak peek at a few of the things that will be going down the night of Friday, September 18th:

LOCATION: The back patio (walk straight through the bar to the back) at The Dark Horse Tap & Grille, 3443 N. Sheffield in the Wrigleyville neighborhood of Chicago. The area we have outside is not only spacious, but also equipped with powerful heaters in case it's chilly, a cover if it's raining, and two huge screens that will be showing the Cubs game (which is away, for those of you worried about home-game traffic -- you're in the clear).

DATE/TIME: Friday, September 18th. We've set the official start time at 7 PM, but we'll definitely be there before that for those of you who might want to come straight from the office.

WHAT TO EXPECT: Mostly we just wanted to use Ryan's trip to Chitown as an excuse to throw a little shindig and meet some of the readers of our sites. But there are a few special things we have in store above and beyond standing/sitting around and talking about Lost for hours:

- There will be periodic Dharma food drops of Katesadillas, Paulo's Pulled Pork Nachos, Hurley's Hummus and Mr. Cluck's Chicken Wings. This is not a joke, there will be the aforementioned appetizers circulating... until funding from the Widmore Corporation runs out.

- Ryan's fellow Zap2it blogger, Andy (aka "The Bloopmeister"), has secured us wonderful drink deals: $3 draft beers, $3 well drinks and a $3 Lost-themed special (we're still deciding on a name for that one). Widmore's not paying for drinks, though, so everyone's on their own as far as beverages are concerned. There will of course be other options for both appetizers and drinks if you want to order anything else The Dark Horse offers. (Did I mention we're going to kick out anyone who can't handle their booze and starts acting like Hillbilly Bearded Jack?)

- I'm going to be handing out small tokens of appreciation to attendees, but supplies are limited, so it's first come, first served for those goodies. The Zap2it folks might have a few swag items to dole out to some lucky people as well.

- We're going to hold a raffle later in the evening, and the main prizes are three sets of Lost Season 1 and Season 2 Blu-ray DVDs, generously donated to Zap2it by ABC. Woo-hoo!

I have to save a few surprises for those who are able to join us, so that's all you're getting for now. If you can't be there physically but want to be there in spirit, you can follow the festivities the night of the event by using the #Zap2Con hashtag on Twitter. We'll try to upload pictures and send updates between talking about our favorite episodes. And by the way, Ryan might be holding more of these get-togethers in other cities in the near future and will continue to use that tag for anything else he throws together in, say, Boston or NYC.

OK, now send this to all of your Windy City Lost-loving peeps! And if you can make it, remember to either email me/Ryan OR RSVP on Facebook here... pretty pretty please.

Can't wait to meet some of you...

- e