April 28th, 2003 Thanks to Charlotte for this submission: I got to Wilmington Thursday night and had the best weekend EVER!!!!! On Saturday morning, I went to the Dawson's Creek Tribute Ceremony. We got there an hour early, and they were just setting up. A while later (after sitting in the sun for an hour!!!) they announced that the cast would be coming thanks to the Wilmington Trolley Company. I turned around and watched for about 10 minutes before I saw the red trolley pull up in the parking lot behind the bleachers, pretty close to where I was sitting. During this, the woman who was first leading the ceremony was getting people distracted so they would not stare at the trolley. She was saying, "Give me a D... give me an A."... etc. to spell out Dawson's Creek so people would concentrate on that and not the trolley that was coming. A lot of people got out of the trolley that I had never seen before (they were crew people). Then I saw Katie's hair behind one of the trolley windows (she had gotten out of the trolley and was waiting behind it). After all of the crew people had gotten out and walked to their seats, all the stars came out (they walked and sat in this order: Busy, Michelle, Josh, Katie, Kerr, Mary Margaret, and Nina) and walked the riverfront deck to their seat on this "stage" they had put up behind the bushes. I was screaming and waving when Katie came out and she looked over and smiled and waved at me:) Katie looked SOOOOOOOOOO beautiful!!!!! She was wearing a light white sundress that crossed in the back that had some flowers on it that went about to her knees, and she had green shoes. She was skinny, but still looked healthy (not too skinny). She walked very gracefully. Her hair was down and she was wearing black sunglasses. OMG Katie was SOOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! :) During the ceremony when different people talked, Katie just sat there and listened - sometimes whispering with Kerr and Josh, who were sitting on either side of her. A bug went down Busy's shirt during the middle of the ceremony lol and she tried to play it off, but she and Michelle started laughing while Busy tried to get it out. For a while, Michelle and Busy were holding hands... you can tell that they are really close. Busy and Michelle waved and smiled to me during the ceremony and looked over at me a lot... lol probably cause I was screaming sooo loud and I stood up a lot!!! When the cast was given a standing ovation (which Josh always led) a couple different times, Katie looked my way and smiled at me whenever she would stand up... I waved to her ALOT and she smiled at me ALOT whenever she would stand up or look my way!!!!!!! :) After the ceremony was done, I ran over to where they were walking (to get on their trolley)... I was the first one there!! Busy was first to get to the "fan area" around the trolley so I asked her to sign a pic that I had of the DC cast and she did and then she took a pic with me... she was really sweet!! And then Michelle came over and she signed a pic, I took a pic with her and then I gave her a present and she said, "AWWW thank you!!!", and then she held it for the rest of the time she was there lol She was SOOOO nice!!!!! Then I was talking with Michelle for a while... I gave her Josh's present because he had already left... I said, "Do you think you could give this to Josh for me, I didn't see him.?" and she says, "Aww.. sure of course I will. Thank you sweetie!!" And while she's saying this she rubs my arm the whole time lol...aww she was soooo nice!!!! Then she takes a few more pics with people and then slowly, the trolley starts to back up, with everyone else inside. She goes, "OH SHIT" really loudly lol but then it comes back and she laughs. I was standing right next to her!!! And she says bye to me and smiles at me and then gets on. Finally... Katie came from where she was standing before!!! After a few minutes, she was looking really nervous, because some people were crowding her. So I handed her the present and she said, "Awww thank you SO much!!" I didn't want to shove a magazine in her face to sign, though, because she is a real person, and I wanted to respect her especially since she already seemed very overwhelmed. So then she had to leave... but I waved to her. She went to get in a white van with Chris and her friend. The van was still parked there, they hadn't left yet so I went on the grass near the window and said, "Katie!!" really loudly and she turned around (I could see her through the window, it wasn't that dark of a window) and I said,"Bye Katie!!!," and then she stuck her hand out the front window, that was open, and waved to me and smiled really big!!! LOL YEA!!! So then she left and so did the trolley with the rest of the cast. So I went to go take pics in front of the "Dawson's Creek Way" sign and the "Entering Capeside", etc... signs that they had at the Ceremony. Later that night, I knew that they were having their private Dawson's Creek cast and crew party at the Pilot House and Elijah's Restaurant (they are riverfront restaurants that are next to each other in Chandlers Wharf). I didn't know what time the party was at though, because they wouldn't tell me when I had called the restaurant the day before. So when I got there it was around 6:15 and I asked one of the women (that was ready to check ppl's names off when they came), what time the Dawson's Creek party started and she said 7:00... lol she wasn't supposed to tell but I'm really glad she did. So I went and had dinner really fast and then came back at around 6:45. I saw Kerr come in and Mary Margaret. Around 7:45 it starts to really thunder and lightning bad, but I'm NOT leaving lol. My mom goes, "this really isn't worth getting killed for" lol. The lightning was sooo close by... but I was determined to see Katie!!! I was assuming Katie would come in a car (they had a valet service..and that's how everyone was coming) but around 8:15 I saw Katie with Chris and her friend walking really fast down the riverwalk right to my left. She was walking really fast because of the rain lol. She was wearing a tan shirt that tied twice in the back (so most of her back was open), jeans, and black shoes with her hair down. It was so awesome to get to see her sooo relaxed... I've never seen her like that, she was laughing and talking really loudly as the three of them walked to the restaurants. Again... she looked SOOOO BEAUTIFUL!!!! :) When she was about to walk in front of me, I got my CosmoGirl out of my bag (the one where she is on the cover), and got a black permanent marker ready. As she walked by I said," Katie, do you think you could please sign this for me?" And she goes (soooo sweetly),"Oh, sure!" and then I hold it out to her and she gets the pen and signs it. Then I said, "Thanks!!!" And she smiles and walks to the restaurant with Chris and her friend. It was sooo awesome to see her so laid back and relaxed. Even when I asked her for an autograph, she just smiled (seemed kinda surprised, but remembered me from that morning) and seemed happy to do it. Katie wasn't nervous (like she had been that morning) , because I was the only fan there. That morning she was a lot more nervous and uptight because of all the fans there. Before I left, I gave Busy's present to one of the people in charge of the party (she had already gone in the restaurant)and they said that they would give it to her. I didn't have a chance to give it to her that morning. Then I wrote on an index card: Dear Katie... Thank you so much for the autograph. It really means a lot to me. I'm sorry to bother you when you were going in. Thank you!!!! Love, your biggest fan... Charlotte I asked the security guard if he could give it to her and said of course, thank you very much. I'm SOOOO glad I got to meet Katie!!! She was even more beautiful in person!!! :) Now she has met her BIGGEST FAN!!!!!!! OMG and then at around 10:30... there were HUGE fireworks going off to the left of the Battleship in that park across the river. They were sooo pretty. I found out Sunday morning that they were for the DC party ( which I thought they were). They lasted for a very long time and I had a great view from the huge window I had in the hotel (we stayed in this Tower at the coastline in, which was the tallest point of the hotel). What a great way to end a PERFECT day!!!! :) As we were leaving Sunday to go back home, I saw Josh drive by!!!! I had this habit of looking in everyone's car as they drove by hoping that maybe Katie would drive by... so then I was just about to cross the road... when Josh drives by in a really cool red car and smiles at me :) I'm SOOOOOO glad I got to meet Katie and now she knows that she has met her BIGGEST FAN!!!!! :) Contact Charlotte at Roxygurl798@yahoo.com