Break out your broomsticks and wands and board the Hogwarts Express for the 2016 Harry Potter Festival! On October 21 and 22, be sure to visit Philadelphia and watch Chestnut Hill will transform into Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley for a weekend full of Harry Potter awesomeness.
Local shops and restaurants become some of your favorite Harry Potter locations, including the Shrieking Shack, the Great Hall and more, and sell some items that you may remember from the books and movies. As you walk through the town, you’ll also see members of the Chestnut Hill Theatre Department running around as Harry, Ron, Hermoine and more of your favorite characters. If you’ve always been curious about what Hogwarts house you belong in, Dumbledore will place the Sorting Hat on your head and figure it out once and for all.
Wizards and witches big and small will also have an opportunity to participate in Potions and Defense Against the Arts classes, and maybe even practice spells against some of the characters. There will be real owls and falcons, wizards’ chess, screenings of the movies and much more!
As if the Fan Festival wasn’t fun enough, there are also other Harry Potter themed events taking place throughout Chestnut Hill, too:
- Pub Crawl – Dress up as your favorite Harry Potter character, grab a glass of butterbeer and enjoy great drink specials during the Harry Potter Pub Crawl. This popular event brings together dementors, wizards and dark lords as they join forces to hit several bars. Even if you don’t get tickets for the pub crawl, you can still stop into one of the pubs on the crawl and enjoy some of the themed drinks.
- Conference – This year marks the 5th annual Harry Potter Conference, an interdisciplinary academic conference at Chestnut Hill College featuring presentations based off of the Harry Potter Come listen to speakers discuss how the magical world of Harry Potter fits into modern academia.
- Quidditch Tournament – For the past seven years, Chestnut Hill College has hosted the Brotherly Love Quidditch Tournament. Teams from all across the mid-Atlantic play compete in this round-robin style tournament, where they try to capture the snitch and score points. Because the teams are made of mere muggles and not wizards, players run with broomsticks and play a game that is similar to a combination of dodgeball, basketball and rugby. It’s definitely a must see!
After the Harry Potter Festival, make sure you hop back on your broomstick and fly over to Geno’s Steaks for a delicious Philadelphia sandwich. Muggles love them, so you will, too!