Chestertown Harry Potter Festival announced!

by · August 25, 2014

It was announced this weekend that Chestertown, Maryland, will be putting on a Harry Potter festival at the end of September. The festival, which will run September 26-27, will see guests able to take part in a literary exploration of the books, attend a pancake breakfast, and try out Quidditch.

Here’s some more about how the weekend will go:

The festivities will begin at 4:30 p.m. Friday with ‘Harry Potter Academia,’ a literary exploration of the J.K. Rowling series with Washington College history professor Janet Sorrentino, at Bookplate, 112 South Cross St.

The Chestertown Harry Potter Festival kick-off event will begin at 6 p.m. at the Garfield Center for the Arts, featuring a costume contest, wizard photo booth, magical games and more.

On Saturday, a Pancakes for Potter breakfast will be held from 7 to 10 a.m. at the Chestertown Masonic Lodge. Proceeds will be donated to the festival’s designated beneficiary, the Garfield Center for the Arts, through the nonprofit Midshore Community Foundation.

Everyone is invited to try their hand at Quidditch from 10 a.m. to noon in the field across from the Hogwarts Express. There will be dueling lessons with the Phoenix Dueling Club and a chance to meet magical creatures at Scamander’s Bestiary, make wizardly crafts and get Harry Potter face paintings from 1 to 4 p.m. at Fountain Park.

Aboard the schooner Sultana, Wizards on the Water, a magical sail down the Chester River, will take place from 2 to 4 p.m.

There will also be a scavenger hunt, and the shops and restaurants of the town will be transformed to reflect the magical world.

The festival will end…

 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday with a kids’ night at Hogwarts and a house party at the Leaky Cauldron. Wizards ages 8-13 are invited to kids’ night, with supervised, themed activities, dinner and theatrical excitement at the Garfield Center for the Arts.

Those inside the age-line are invited to the house party at the Leaky Cauldron, featuring magical menu items and libations and live music from wizard rockers the Blibbering Humdingers.

And if you just can’t wait another week, there will be a Read-A-Thon on September 20 at Kent County Public Library.

The Festival is also looking for volunteers. Check out the website here, and find out more about how you can get involved!

It sounds like there will be lots going on!

Do you live near Chestertown? Are you hoping to attend? Let us know in the comments!