Scranton, Pa. - the Electric City.

The comedy about the metronomic beat of ho-hum office work at Scranton's fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Co. inspired enthusiasm and, ironically, electricity from the 10,000 or so psyched fans who flocked from around the country to Scranton.

"I can't pay for this kind of advertising," said Scranton Mayor Chris Dougherty, the ubiquitious politico who could be spotted milling about the convention's events. "The show has been kind to us and we're taking full advantage."

Fourteen cast members and nearly all of the show's writers, producers and other creative types attended the convention, which sold about 5,000 tickets. The event got its unofficial start early Friday morning with "Today" show appearances by nine "Office" workers.

As they showed up at convention events over the past weekend, screams filled auditoriums or local pubs. Characters' names were chanted and references to episodes were hollered. The adoration was nonstop, and the cast members were treated like Scranton royalty.

The banter of love between fans and the show's talent was endless.

"We're the Beatles of Scranton," said funnyman-actor Ed Helms (paper salesman/anger-management-school grad Andy Bernard).

They were already the Beatles of drone work with a fierce cult following, especially on the Internet with OfficeTally.com and the "That's What She Said" podcast (thatswhatshesaid.libsyn.com/).

By yesterday afternoon, there were whispered rumors of the convention becoming a yearly event.

Here are our personal convention highlights:

Friday, Oct. 26: Actor/stand-up comic Craig Robinson (warehouse foreman Darryl Philbin), may have set the convention's it's-so-awesome-to-be-here tone while waiting to go on the air with "Today's" Al Roker. A crowd of mostly University of Scranton students was behind barriers on the campus' Founder's Green, chanting, "Da-rryl, Da-rryl!"

Robinson, sporting a gray University of Scranton sweatshirt, snatched somebody's cell phone and chatted away with an unsuspecting caller. He hugged and shook hands with as many people as would have him. When he shook his booty, someone from the crowd yelled out, "Darryl, shake that moneymaker!"

Suddenly, Robinson roared, "Scranton what?"

"The Electric City!" the onlookers yelled back.

"Scranton what??"

"The Electric City!!"

No one grew tired of the back and forth. Not even the president of Scranton's Jesuit university, the Rev. Scott R. Pilarz.

Any true "Office" fan knew the call and answer, which was performed by "Office" manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and his wingman, dweeby fascist Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) in the rap video "Lazy Scranton." The short was featured in the episode "The Merger," and was inspired by the "Saturday Night Live" video "Lazy Sunday."

Father Pilarz earlier had boasted that he had borrowed some famous lyrics from "The Office" for last year's commencement speech: "Ain't no party like a Scranton party, 'cause a Scranton party don't stop."

Pilarz substituted "education" for "party."

The grads went wild.

* You can't find more loyal fans than Chris and Melissa Sedlak of Germantown, Ohio. The married couple drove nine hours through the night, arriving at the "Today" show area at 7:30 a.m. Chris Sedlak, a cable assembler, donned a papier mache Dwight Bobblehead and was interviewed by local media and NBC.com.

* Diane Murphy and Deborah Gajdowski were outside the Java Cafe in the Weinberg Memorial Library, right after "Today" ended. The sisters - Diane's from nearby Lake Sheridan; Deborah now lives in New Fairfield, Conn. - came to see Roker, but could not believe the turnout for the cast members.

It's a far cry from the Scranton they knew growing up.

"Years ago you would be embarassed to say you're from Scranton," Murphy said.

Gajdowski chimed in, "Now

you're able to poke fun of yourself because of the revitalization," including more shops and a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Triple A Yankees baseball team. "Twenty years ago it wouldn't have gone over as well," said Gajdowski, whose son Ryan attends the University of Scranton.

* Early Friday evening, Philly's own Kate Flannery and her fellow "Office" mates, Creed Bratton and Brian Baumgartner, had some face time with hundreds of fans at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel. They gleefully signed autographs, posed for pictures, and listened to fans' stories. Bratton - once a guitarist in the '60s rock band the Grass Roots - played his guitar onstage with a local musician. The crowd, again, went wild.

Flannery, a loyal hometown gal, grabbed a Daily News reporter by the arm and yelled to her security detail, "She's with me! She's with the Daily News!"

Saturday, Oct. 27: The steady rain didn't dampen spirits. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was moved inside the university's Eagen Auditorium. Waiting for cast members and dignitaries to appear, local high school student Kristen O'Brien, 18, yelled out, "Who started the fire?"

In unison, everyone answered "Ryan!"

O'Brien then sang a song from "The Fire" episode and got cheers.

Later, Jordan Bond, 16, of Flushing, Mich., pounded the stage floor three times and howled, "Blood alone moves the wheels of history!" - the start of the "We are the Warriors" speech given by Dwight in "Dwight's Speech."

Little did Dwight know that his words were actually the words of Mussolini.

When he finished, Bond got thunderous applause from the room and was swarmed by the media.

For fans and stars, it was unlike any other day at "The Office." *