Wizardfest Brings Together Potterheads from All Around Minneapolis

Fine Line gives muggles a chance to attend Hogwarts for one night

By Josie Takeshima-Allen

Like many other Minneapolis potterheads, I simply couldn’t pass up the chance to go to Wizardfest, a pop-up event claiming to transform First Avenue’s Fine Line into Hogwarts for a night. Upon entering the venue, I saw cardboard cutouts of characters, dementors, and wands for sale. The iconic Harry Potter opening sequence music was blasting from a DJ booth, and people were getting ready for the trivia quiz. This was my first taste of the commitment some people attending that night had to Harry Potter, and I was not disappointed.

There were two main events held during the night: a costume contest and a trivia contest. A couple dressed as Professor McGonagall and her husband won the costume contest, with “Drunk Dumbledore,” “Harry Potter in His Pajamas,” and “Professor Sprout and a (human) Mandrake” also making strong appearances. As for trivia, a couple dressed as wizards won after answering every question correctly, including the bonus: what spell does Luna Lovegood use to fix Harry’s broken nose? The answer: episkey. It was a tough enough question to stump most of the crowd who had come out on this Thursday night.

Age-wise, the group ranged from other college-age students to people old enough to be my grandparents. There were people like me who had made no effort to dress up, and others who went all-out, like the couple wearing elaborate Mcgonagall outfits. Upon inquiring as to where they got their costumes, I found out the woman ran her own cosplay costume shop. She told me she had made over fifteen movie replica costumes for herself since she attended her first convention in 1974. Attendees’ love of the books and movie renditions was obvious all night and made it much easier to mingle because everyone had a common topic to talk about. And if you missed Wizardfest this year, you can look forward to the event coming back to the Fine Line next year!