Fans Give Enthusiastic Farewell to Harry Potter

Greetings, muggles! This weekend marked the end of an era as the Harry Potter movie series came to a finale with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. The film opened Thursday night at in and fans of all ages came out in droves hours before the midnight premiere.

Tickets were in high demand and some went to great lengths to buy them. Michael Huffman and Stephen Friedman, who dressed as Crabbe and Goyle, bought their tickets online two months ago to guarantee themselves seats for opening night.

Raquel Sain and her friend Rachel Vick, dressed as Bellatrix LeStrange and Dumbledore, have gone to last 3 premieres in costume.

“We’re all kind of hardcore,” said Rachel. “We got tickets back in May, as soon as they went on sale.” Thursday, they arrived two hours early to ensure that they and all 14 of their friends could get good seats.

For a group of recent high school graduates, Thursday night was the end of two eras for them as the Harry Potter phenomenon started at about the same time they started school. Melissa Phillips, dressed as Hannah Abbot, tried to get tickets at midnight the day before they were even being sold. When asked how they felt about the series ending the response was “bittersweet;” they were excited to see the film, but sad that there would be no more books or movies after this.

Mark Zach dressed up as a Death Eater, complete with a Dark Mark on his arm. He has been waiting for this movie since he finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the day of its release. In order to prepare Mark and his friends dressed up and threw a Harry Potter themed dinner party complete with “authentic Harry Potter food.” They even made owls and were dueling each other around the theater while they waited for the show to start.

Sarabeth West is running a costume contest on Crocker Park’s Facebook page. Pictures of fans in costume will be uploaded to the Crocker Park Facebook page where you can tag yourself and get your friends to vote for your picture. You can upload a picture to their page of your own even if you weren’t at the opening. The contest runs through Sunday, July 17 and the winner will receive a Harry Potter themed gift basket.