In anticipation for the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in one of the most popular children’s series in history, Borders books in downtown Silver Spring hosted a recreation of the wizarding street Diagon Alley as part of the Potter release party that drew hundreds of eager buyers and costumed fanatics Friday night.
The seventh installment, Hallows sold 8.3 million copies in the first 24 hours it was available, breaking the previous world record of 6.9 million set by the series’ sixth book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, according to the website of series publisher Scholastic.
The record-breaking action could be witnessed at events such as Borders’ Friday bash, which was dubbed “The Grand Hallow’s Ball” and was one of the book chain’s largest events in the country.
Minutes before midnight, chants of “Harry! Harry!” echoed throughout the downtown area as the New Year’s-esque count down to the book’s release reached a fever pitch and those with reserved copies of the book pushed toward the store’s doors.
Borders had worked out a colored-wristband system that allowed people who had gotten in line for the book early Friday morning to also enjoy the various other businesses on and around Ellsworth Drive participating in the event.
Elliott Zenick, one of the first to emerge from the store with a copy of Hallows, had arrived at the bookstore around 8:30 a.m. for his wristband before enjoying the excitement of Diagon Alley, which he called a “complete madhouse.”
Whole Foods, CakeLove, and McGinty’s Public House were among the businesses that redecorated to become stores from Diagon Alley made famous in the Harry Potter series.
Borders took the name of Flourish and Blotts, the bookstore, while Whole Foods kept busy making butterbeer, a favorite drink for Harry and his friends and one that drew plenty of interested fans Friday night.
CakeLove, posing as the wizarding candy shop Honeydukes, offered its usual decoration and fare with the addition of cockroach clusters – chocolate cupcakes topped with chocolate sauce and sugared peanuts.
“We definitely had a big turn out,” said Lorenzo Williams, a manager at CakeLove. “It was huge.”
Inside “Ye Leake Cauldron,” as the sign on the front of McGinty’s Public House read, the employees downstairs dressed in robes and hats while visitors were invited to a glass of Boddington’s Pub Ale, relabeled butterbeer for the night.
Back at the Flourish and Blotts’ end of the street, Ben and Jerry’s became Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor with dark curtains in the windows and broomsticks decorating the store.
The Parlor offered root beer floats, called butterbeer floats for the occasion, and every flavor sundaes topped with jelly beans and whipped cream, said manager Aaron Kimbrough.
Although the changes to the decoration of fabric-providing Marimekko were limited to a cape on a mannequin, the store kept busy taking custom cape orders for visitors as Madame Malkin’s Robe Shop.
Along with the redecorated stores, fans’ costumes established Ellsworth as a hub of Harry Potter activity.
The simplest were face-painted round glasses and Potter’s trademark lightning bolt scar, while the most intricate included black graduation robes, dark hoods and school uniforms inspired by the Harry Potter films. Many included props such as wands, broomsticks and rubber ears on strings.
Blythe Crawford and Willie Gamell drove nearly an hour from Poolesville with their friends Brian Truesdale and Mary Kate Schneider, self-described hapless bystanders in the event.
Although Crawford said she had heard about spoilers and leaked versions of the book online, she was sure to avoid them.
“I feel bad for the people that have to read it earlier, like editors,” she said.
Although Silver Spring’s Harry Potter Party was the largest in the state, it was by no means the only one.
Sophomore American Studies major Chris Lewis chose a party in Pikesville where he lives where the crowd, if not the excitement, was less intense and his wait for the book was a paltry hour and a half.
“It was definitely worth going and being a part of it,” Lewis said.
Contact reporter Kelly Wilson at newsdesk@dbk.umd.edu.