I think I attended what may have been the nation’s largest Hype Harry Potter event last night in Hudson OH with the grandkids. Paper says attendance was more than the anticipated 12,000 and I believe it. . All our kids were in costume as were about 10,000 other people. Every character from every book was represented as well as various of the animals in the stories, dragons, owls, gryphons etc. It was started by the local bookstore owner for the 4th book, and repeated for each successive book, this is of course billed as “the last extravaganza”.
Hudson is a small Western Reserve town with many of the downtown bldgs on the historic register, village green and other features of WR towns. The newer shopping district adjacent has kept the 19th c architectural style, so the setting was perfect. All the storeowners decorated windows and sometimes renamed their stores for the Hogsmead or Hogwarts motif, all stores stayed open with special promotions, sales etc. Participants first went to the bookstore for “sorting” into houses, got wristbands for their house, and visited the various stores to do activities and earn “house points” redeemable for little prizes.
all the restaurants had special HP menus, community center had several shows–magic, owls and raptors, snakes and reptiles etc., local radio station played HP soundtracks, lantern parade for all in costumes. Scavenger hunt through local businesses began at 2, other programs through the evening. Those with pre-order tickets picked up their books at the bookstore at 12:01 am.
DD and girls were there as volunteers with their GS troop to direct traffic, run info booth etc, I left at 8 with the little ones, but they did not get home until after 1 by the time traffic cleared out. kids are playing with magic wands, flavored candies in gross colors, and other souvenirs today. paper also says booksellers in the main will lose money on the book, but pick up profit on related merchandising and licensed items, but for once the author will clean up. as an author I say more power to her. 10% of bookstore’s proceeds on the book are going to a program in Summit Cty to encourage disadvantaged children to own books and read.
they are all fighting over 3 copies of the book this morning, but the aunts for whom the extra copies were purchased have just shown up to claim theirs, and I anticipate a battle. Nobody has flipped to the last chapter for the spoiler as yet.
)