'Harry Potter Festival' Vanishes From Aurora After Name Dispute

AURORA, IL — Aurora's Harry Potter Festival has vanished into thin air this year. After a wildly successful festival last year, Aurora had another such festival slated for June 9 and 10 of 2018. The city still plans to host a celebration of wizardry and magic on June 9, but after being contacted by Warner Brothers over copyright issues, a certain boy wizard must not be named.

According to a post on the event's Facebook page, attorneys from Warner Brothers informed festival organizers that they "may not use Harry Potter’s name or any HP-specific references in our festival" due to new guidelines and restrictions this year.

"[W]e'd hate to disappoint our fans and the non-profit organizations that were selected to share the proceeds of the this year's festival," organizers said when they broke the news. Instead of canceling the event, they have rebranded it as a "general celebration of wizards, witches, and all things magical."

Organizers said this year's event will be slightly scaled back and there won't be a trace of Harry Potter in the branding, but they're hoping magic enthusiasts will come out. One Facebook user jokingly suggesting calling the event "Perry Hotter's."

The event's new details have yet to be released, but you can like the Downtown Aurora Magic page to get updates as they materialize.

As of Thursday evening, the event's website still had the old event name posted.

>>>Image via Pixabay, tookapic