Evening is falling in Omaha's fashionable downtown Old Market district, where a raucous crowd, some of them wearing bright yellow jesters' hats, have gathered in the French coffee house. It would be just another night out in a midwest town, but something about these revellers is different. This is the annual gathering of the Brk'ers, an Internet group of shareholders in Berkshire Hathaway, the largest and most successful investment company on earth. And dozens among this motley collection are millionaires, or well on the way to it, as a result of investing in the vehicle controlled by Warren Buffett.
At least one of them, a tanned upright man who has now made his home in Pensacola, Florida, has holdings valued in the hundreds of millions. Don Danley is Mr Buffett's longest-standing business associate. In 1947, when both were still at school in Omaha, Mr Buffett came up with the bright idea of buying up second-hand pinball machines for $50-$60 each, getting his friend Don to refurbish them and then placing them in local barber shops - where the machines could yield up to $20 a week.
It was a terrific rate of return and the Wilson Coin operation, as it became known, was one of the original Buffett partnerships. Mr Danley went on to be a chemical engineer, but when Mr Buffett eventually took control of Berkshire Hathaway in the 1960s, he bought out all his old business partners, giving them shares in the new company. The shares in what was then a struggling New England textile company were worth around $25 a piece. Now each is valued at $77,000.
His might seem like an exceptional story. But Omaha in the days surrounding Berkshire Hathaway's annual general meeting, dubbed by Mr Buffett himself as a "Woodstock for capitalists", is filled with them. The more one listens to the way in which people's lives have been transformed by following Mr Buffett, the more it becomes evident that the 15,000 investors who turned up to catch a glimpse of the master, acquire his autograph and listen to more than six hours of investment technicalities are on a pilgrimage.
Back at the French coffee house Mark Hollaway, a burly, gregarious character from Portland, Oregon, is doing very nicely as a result of his interest in Mr Buffett. An investment adviser, Mr Hollaway first became fascinated with Mr Buffett in 1970, when he was still an unknown. Most investment advisers would have steered clear because of the unconventional nature of a company which paid no dividends and was run by a bunch of unknowns from Omaha. But the young Mr Hollaway was fascinated and, over the years, has acquired more than 20 "A" shares now worth $1.6 million, as well as hundreds of cheaper "B" shares.
Just as important, he created a cluster of wealth in Portland by advising up to 300 of his clients to buy into Mr Buffett over the last three decades. Mr Hollaway speaks privately of one of his clients who had come to him in the 1970s after selling his compressed gas business for $2 million. "I told him to invest most of it in Berkshire Hathaway," he says. "He bought 6,250 shares at between $300 and $500 each. That portfolio would now be worth $450 million." Those who knew or came across Warren Buffett in the early pioneering days in Omaha, when he was as much known for his prowess at bridge as his investment skills, have been among the largest beneficiaries. In the modern sprawling suburbs of Omaha, more than 100 blocks uptown from the centre, stands the Beth-El Conservative synagogue, a beautifully designed structure considered a landmark in religious architecture.
Two decades ago a previous rabbi, Myer Kripke, met Mr Buffett at a function and casually asked him to look after his limited savings. Mr Buffett obliged, making Rabbi Kripke one of the richest men of the cloth in history. The new Beth-El building is part of his legacy, but only the tip of the iceberg: in each of the last two years, the rabbi has made huge donations - $7 million last year - to charitable causes.
Being a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder demands not only exceptional outlays but also loyalty to what Mr Buffett enjoys. This means supporting Omaha's Golden Spikes baseball team in which he owns a 25 per cent stake; supping on ice-cream concoctions at the Dairy Queen chain he controls across the midwest; and shopping at the Berkshire Hathaway stores such as the jeweller Borsheim's where some of the more valuable items are priced in Berkshire Hathaway shares - two for one of their diamond rings!
At the Golden Spikes game at Rosenblatt Stadium, during a.g.m. weekend, Mr Buffett, clad in full baseball regalia, threw the first ball to retired Chicago Cubs great, Ernie Banks, before taking a pew high up in the bleachers where he signed autographs.
Among those enjoying the ballpark spectacle is a neatly groomed young man from Hertfordshire, England, Tim Spear. When his family, which made the Spear board games in Britain, sold out to a US company, the family exited with millions in its pockets. Mr Spear became fascinated with Mr Buffett after reading a book about him, and having bought "a grand total of one share for $33,000 three years ago". He is now vicariously living the Buffett legend for a few days.
Mr Stuart Schwartz of Arizona, recapturing some of his childhood at the baseball game, spotted the investment opportunity of Berkshire Hathaway in 1987, when most people were leaving the stock market in droves. Having made the decision to invest, he became concerned about paying college fees - a frequent reason Mr Buffett followers selling their shares - and sold at profit.
Early the following morning, on the eve of the a.g.m., comes one of the highlights for the Hathaway high rollers: the annual shareholders day at Borsheim's, the Tiffany's of the midwest. This jewellery store, where Mr Buffett helped his friend Bill Gates buy an engagement ring for his wife-to-be, Miranda, is one of an eclectic group of Omaha retailers that Mr Buffett has bought into over the decade.
Among those waiting to go into Borsheim's is a small-town lawyer called Bob Reimer and his wife. He formed a limited partnership with his son-in-law in 1985 to buy Buffett shares, originally paying $2,030 each for three shares, now worth close to $200,000. He has been buying ever since.
Inside Borsheim's is Berkshire Hathaway's youngest shareholder, eight-year-old Susan Sart. Her shares, bought by her grandmother, have been put in a trust. "She will get them in 20 years," her mother says. "This is the best way of taking care of your grandchildren," echoes a passing investor.
Wandering through the crowd is Bud Schlossburg, who played bridge with Mr Buffett more than three decades ago. Mr Schlossburg, who is now fabulously wealthy, was there at the group's birth. "I was coming back from Connecticut, when I met Warren on the plane," he says. Mr Schlossburg bought a block of the shares. "It was more than 10," says the small, lively figure with a twinkle in his eyes.
"I have sold some over the years. When I bought them, I never had any dream of being as well off as today." And with that he scurries off into the crowd of America's most privileged investors.
