It's that time again. Summer has rolled around and this is the part of the year where my world becomes a lot more magical. Between June, July, and August we do a lot of Harry Potter events in celebration of the Chosen One's birthday. (We also tend to pack a lot into December.)
We had an extra special even this year to kick off the "season" and if you are following me on IG, then you have already seen a bunch of posts.
Early July brought us the last LeakyCon
LeakyCon is a convention put on by Mischief Management, a fandom event company, but was originally run by the website The Leaky Cauldron. It's a three-day celebration of all things Potter, which has been pulling in other magical fandoms (much like Fandom Forward) and is now transitioning to Enchanticon. We were lucky that this year was in Portland, so we didn't actually have to travel anywhere to get in on the fun.
PDXpelliarmus, the non-profit I'm on the board of, was specifically asked to have a presence there, so I spent a good portion of all three days at our booth, talking to people about what we do and how we do it and geeking out with other Potterheads over their amazing cosplays. While the show was much smaller than usual, it was wonderful to connect with so many awesome people, make quite a bit of money for charity, and also attend some great panels and spotlight talks. I met some magical creators that I've been following for years, got to see Starkid's last LeakyCon performance, and traded a lot of badge ribbons. I brought home a lot of memories and a few treasures.
My cosplays for the weekend: Friday I was a Honeydukes employee, Saturday I was The Fat Lady who guards Gryffindor tower, and Sunday I transformed into Stan Shunpike, the Knight Bus conductor, on summer vacation.
Mid-July brought us to our annual magical tea
We live a few miles from a really amazing tea house called Clockwork Rose Tea Emporium. They shut down for a week or so 4 times a year in order to transform their space into something truly amazing for a 6- to 8-week run of specialty tea seatings. In July, and part of August, this is the annual Harry Potter tea.
They serve special tea blends, themed foods, and they also have live entertainment. Usually that is a Muggle magician and the owner often comes out to run a Divination session so we can read our tea leaves. I make a point to show up in a new outfit every year and this year I went as Professor Sinistra (the astronomy teacher) on vacation and I made Eric a new shirt, like I did last year, which is a French version of "the wand chooses the wizard", that is perfect for an event that serves baked goods, and a hat with Hufflepuff house in French. That means I can re-wear this one for my next event or our September stint at Rose City Comic Con and Eric will wear his shirt all year long.
The end of July brought us Wizarding Weekend
This is one of our biggest events for PDXpelliarmus. We team up with a landmark place in town to help the community. McMenamins Kennedy School is a real historical elementary school that they have turned into a hotel with several restaurants, bars, and a movie theater. We takeover much of the public space so we can bring in vendors and run games, so we have The Great Hall, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and Knockturn Alley. We either collect books or school supplies for schools/teachers in need and also raise funds for a big donation.
McMenamins, in turn, runs all 8 movies over the course of the weekend, has magical drink and food specials, and donates to a local charity here that helps people with basic needs. It's a win win win, and even though it's a ton of work, it's also a lot of fun. We do games and trivia and costume contests, give out House Points (and other prizes) and then announce the winner at the end of the weekend. People get real competitive over plastic gems and we love it. Everyone wants their House to win.
What's next? Well, August is usually when I throw my annual Harry Potter party at home (it used to be the last weekend in July, but now that I'm volunteering, we moved it to the next weekend), but this year has been so crazy that I just couldn't pull it together in time, so we'll be doing our 10th official party next year, bigger and better than ever.
In September, I'll be working with PDXpelliarmus to bring magic to Rose City Comic Con. In December, I might throw another Potter-themed birthday party for myself, because that's always fun. We will, for sure, be working our annual Yule Ball, which is actually our largest fundraiser of the year. A proper ball with dancing, a feast, and a nerdy DJ. People look forward to it all year and I can't say I blame them. We were able to secure the space and catering from last year already, so we're already 75% of the way there!
If I find anything cool and magical in the meantime, I'll definitely be posting to Facebook and Instagram first, so don't forget to follow me there.
Disclaimer: As I always say, the fans own the fandom and I don't condone anything that She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has said in opposition of the trans community. Any art, artists, and events I support do not support her in any meaningful way (and I only say that because she probably does get compensated somehow for the movies they show at Kennedy School, but 50% of the ticket proceeds still go to a charity that helps the LGBTQ+ community without prejudice, and we can't tell a business how to spend their money, though we are floating the idea of showing entirely different magical movies going forward.)
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