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Feature,
by Pam Christensen
Potter
mania hits Marquette
There is no doubt about it; this will be a Harry Potter-filled summer.
Harry Potter fans are eagerly awaiting the seventh installment of the
Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling.
The last book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will
be released at 12:01 a.m. on July 21. The movie The Order of the Phoenix
based on Book 5, will be released in theaters on July 13.
Anticipation for the next book is always strong. Scholastic Books, the
American publisher of the Harry Potter series, has scheduled an initial
printing of the book at twelve million copies.
Not to be outdone, Marquette organizations and businesses are teaming
up to recreate two locations from the popular series. The Westwood Mall
will recreate Diagon Alley, the secret part of London where the witches
and wizards shop, the evening of July 20. Downtown Marquette will be
transformed into Hogsmeade, the town near the wizard school Hogwarts,
where students visit to get away from the drudgeries of schoolwork.
Both locales play a major part in the Harry Potter series.
“The Westwood Mall has held Harry Potter celebrations for two previous
books,” said mall manager Ellen Sargent. “The first time customers
lined up to wait for the book’s release took us by surprise. Now
we know what to expect.”
According to Sargent, people start lining up at 10:00 a.m. to be first
in line at the Mall to pick up their copy of the book almost fourteen
hours later. In order to take advantage of the festive occasion, B.
Dalton Books and select mall retailers will open at 11:00 p.m. Friday
evening and stay open until about 2:0 0
a.m. Saturday, or whenever the last Potter customer has received his
or her book. To keep people amused during the wait, mall retailers and
volunteers provide a variety of family-oriented activities.
“We have worked with the B. Dalton staff to develop a system for
numbering who is first in line, so that they are the first admitted
into the store, and this works pretty well,” Sargent said.
The Westwood Mall Sub and Dessert Factory will be transformed into the
Leaky Cauldron for the event. A Potter-inspired menu of beverages, snacks
and desserts will be available again this year. Of course, everyone
is eagerly anticipating the chocolate frogs Sayklly’s Confectionery
is creating especially for this event. In addition, they will have Bertie
Bott’s Every Flavored Beans.
All B. Dalton, mall and volunteer staff will be costumed for the evening,
overseeing activities including a scavenger hunt, guess the number of
beans contest, photos with Harry and the talking Sorting Hat.
“The Sorting Hat is a big hit,” said Diane Weiland, manager
of B. Dalton Books in the Westwood Mall. “It is such a big part
of the Potter series, and the kids get a real kick out of being ‘sorted.’”
A costumed Hermione will be reading selections from past books to the
audience.
Prior to the midnight opening of B. Dalton, staff will be selling Harry
Potter-related items, such as bookmarks, baseball hats and bracelets.
Peter White Public Library’s Youth Services Librarian Cathy Seblonka
encouraged downtown Marquette businesses to recreate Hogsmeade after
she visited Howell (Michigan) for the release of the sixth Potter book.
“They created a village in downtown Howell to capture the excitement
of Harry Potter,” she said. “It was a wonderful experience.
Families were visiting the shops, people were speculating about the
book and it brought the community together. After visiting Howell, I
thought Marquette could easily do the same thing.”
Working with the Downtown Development Authority, Downtown Marquette
Association and several business owners, a dedicated planning team has
developed a variety of Harry Potter-related activities for July, culminating
in a big celebration to be held on the evening of July 20 before the
scheduled 12:01 a.m. Saturday worldwide release of the book.
Newly appointed Downtown Marquette Association Director Anna Patrick
got involved in the activities right away and is thrilled to have so
much enthusiasm and cooperation surrounding her first event.
“We have so many businesses and organizations involved in this
celebration,” she said. “The Marquette Country Convention
and Visitors Bureau, Marquette Food Co-op, Peter White Public Library,
Book World, Wells Fargo, HOTplate, Snowbound Books, the Dog House Pub,
Sports Rack, Dead River Coffee, Coffee Cup, Love Notes, Alley Kat’s
Quilt Shop, Harbor Light Coffee and Café, Downtown Development
Authority, YMCA, U.P. Children’s Museum, Marquette Arts and Culture
Center and Masonic Center are all cooperating to make this a special
event. I couldn’t ask for a better first project to be involved
with.”
Downtown Marquette will be festooned with decorated brooms prior to
the event. Brooms will placed on the light posts. Broom handles can
be picked up at the Marquette Arts and Culture Center. A broom decorating
workshop will be hosted by Alley Kat’s Quilt Shop and HOTplate
on July 2 at the Marquette Arts and Culture Center. The broom handle
will be decorated and marked with the designer’s name and phone
number. The decorated brooms need to be returned to the Arts and Culture
Center by July 9.
Brooms will be displayed outdoors, so they should be designed to withstand
a variety of weather conditions. Brooms can be picked up, after display,
at the Arts and Culture Center, between July 23 and 27. For details,
call 228-0472.
Weiland said that bookstores in smaller communities seem to celebrate
the Potter books more than those in Chicago, Detroit or New York.
“The larger cities have so much competition and so many bookstores,
that they don’t go all out to celebrate,” Weiland said. “B.
Dalton is a subsidiary of Barnes and Noble, and we are getting lots
of promotional items from larger stores, because they just don’t
want to bother with them. In Marquette, our customers, many who come
from all over the U.P., look forward to the activities and promo items
we distribute.”
Weiland said her store has received a UPS truck filled with Potter books
for the last several books in the series.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows books and audio books will be available
at the store.
Snowbound Books and Book World located in Downtown Marquette also have
seen a new level of enthusiasm for the last book in the series.
“I don’t know if the Harry Potter series has gotten to be
more popular, or if people are just excited about the conclusion of
the series, but we are seeing an increased interest in the last book,”
said Dianne Patrick, manager of Snowbound Books.
Independent booksellers across the country also are holding a drawing
for an all-expenses paid trip to London for four. Anyone who purchases
a Harry Potter book from an independent book store between the release
date and July 24 is eligible to enter.
All three local bookstores are offering readers the option to pre-order
copies of the book. All three stores will be open extended hours and
have books available for sale at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday morning.
HOTplate will be offering four Hogwarts courses in Herbology, the Care
of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration and Divination beginning July
9. Craft projects related to each class will be created and displayed
at the store until the conclusion of the Harry Potter festival. Readers
of the series will be able to participate in these classes and try their
own hand at wizarding.
What would a Harry Potter festival be without the game of Quidditch?
The YMCA of Marquette County is offering a Quidditch clinic on July
18. Players will get to participate in an actual Quidditch game on July
19. Hopefully, the clinic and games will be as exciting as those in
the books and movies.
Downtown events will be held from July 19 through 21. Thursday evening,
the U.P. Children’s Museum will host a Potter’s Pizza and
Potions evening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. This will be followed by an outdoor
viewing of the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone at 10:00
p.m. at the Marquette Commons. Refreshments will be available for purchase.
In case of rain, the movie will be shown at Peter White Public Library.
Friday, Potter fans will want to visit Gringotts Wizarding Bank, formerly
Wells Fargo, to view the vault and see the goblins who staff the bank.
Friday evening, Downtown Marquette will be transformed into Hogsmeade.
Businesses that will be open extended hours will have banners, signs,
costumes and Potterish names for their shops and menu items. A scavenger
hunt will be held for the four house badges from noon until 9:00 p.m.
Activities will be held at the Marquette Commons and Masonic Center.
The costume contest registration begins at 6:00 p.m. at the Commons.
There are seven costume categories—Harry, Hermione, Ron, magical
creatures and plants, villains, students and Hogwarts inhabitants including
professors, ghosts and more. At 7:15 p.m., the costumed participants
will parade in the Grand Wizard March to the Masonic Center, where they
will be judged. The Queen City Dance Company will perform the Phoenix
Dance while the judges tabulate their results.
The Masonic Center also will host games such as a spell down, dragon
egg decorating, wizard balloons, Pin-the-Tail on Dudders and other events
beginning at 7:00 p.m. Potter fans also can assemble a wand under the
direction of Joy Bender Hadley and the Peter White Public Library Teen
Advisory Board in Pocket Park.
The Jule Ball will be held at the Commons from 9:30 to 11:30 p.m. The
Jimmy Almen Swing Band will perform and various vendors will sell refreshments.
The Phoenix Dance will be performed during intermission. All ages are
invited to join in the Jule Ball.
It is apparent that Marquette County residents are getting excited about
Harry Potter, and this excitement is expected to build as the release
dates of the latest film and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows approach.
Information about these events is available from Peter White Public
Library by calling 226-4323 or Westwood Mall by calling 228-4860.
As Weiland reflected on the excitement created by each installment of
the series, she said her most vivid memory of past Potter parties at
the mall was one adult customer who said “Isn’t it great to
see kids excited about a book?”
Hopefully, once the Harry Potter series concludes, readers will find
even more books that will pique their interest, keep them enthralled
and result in a shared sense of community. Here’s to you Harry,
and all you have inspired.
MM
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