Wands, magic and characters coming to life are just three things that will catch your eye when wizarding weekend takes over Downtown Ithaca for the second time.
Last year was the first time the area saw a Harry Potter themed festival and it gained national attention. Seventeen Magazine, MTV and other well-known media outlets picked up the story after a Facebook page was created for the event just one week before.
Darlynne Overbaugh, creative director for Wizarding Weekend and owner of Life’s So Sweet Chocolates, said the initial idea came from two teen employees of Boxy Bikes.
“October 12, 2015, a young man and his younger brother, Gabe and Aiden, they were commenting on how Press Bay Alley reminded them of Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter book series. And they thought ‘Boy wouldn’t it be fun, Halloween is coming, maybe we should do something fun for the event’,” said Overbaugh.
The idea then began to come alive as an executive board of local shop owners got together to plan what they thought of as a small event that turned into 8,000 people.
“Last year, we really absorbed the cost of putting on a festival of this nature. There are logistical things and this year, we really wanted to become solvent,” said Overbaugh.
The board is expecting more than 12,000 attendees and with that, has gotten more businesses around the community involved.
“In terms of working with other businesses, it’s been phenomenal to talk to them, and in some cases, meet them for the first time … but it’s been really nice to be able to connect with them and say, ‘what do you do and how can we make it wizarding?’,” said Overbaugh.
The Community School of Music and Art is one of the many businesses participating; putting on one of the main fundraisers, the Tri-Wizard Ball. The ball will be held on Saturday night and will bring the community together for dancing, food and a costume contest that costs $25.
One of the other main events is the Half Blood Prince Blood Drive. This will be in honor of Alan Rickman who was best known for playing Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series. Rickman died of cancer back in January 2016.
There will be many more events that will transform the downtown area, the key is to use your imagination.
With an imagination you can see Tompkins County Trust as Gringotts, Benjamin Peters as a sneaky place to hide a horcrux and the Tompkins County Library as your Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The most important part of the festival is having fun and with that, you are able to make it anything you want it to be.
“People bring their own energy to it and that’s what makes it special. You can go to any festival but this one, you get the opportunity to make it a special time for yourself and others,” said Overbaugh.
With the success of last year, students and community members cannot wait for October 27 to arrive.
Ithaca College senior, Anne Sparaco, said she plans on attending, given how much fun she had at the last event.
“I have to see how much they improved, I have to see what they do differently this year. And who knows, I may even go down in my own wizarding costume,” said Sparaco.
She’s one of many who come prepared with costumes, props and anything else magical that contributes to the overall excitement of the weekend.
The second Wizarding Weekend will kick off on Thursday October 27 and run the whole weekend, with the main day being Saturday. This exciting weekend will prepare the community for Halloween the following Monday.
