Courtney Canipe grew up with Harry Potter.
“I was 11 when I started reading the books and so was Harry,” said Canipe, one of the coordinators of Wednesday night’s Potterpalooza.
She sees the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 as the end of an era, but with an event Wednesday that drew more than 100 Potter enthusiasts to the Great Hall of the Student Union, Canipe said she hoped to send the popular children’s novel out with a bang.
The event, sponsored by the film and pop culture committees of the Carolina Union Activities Board, transformed the Great Hall into the Hogwarts dining hall, complete with house tables and pins.
Committee members said they hoped to spur excitement about the upcoming release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, which debuts in theaters on Nov. 19.
Avid Harry Potter fans snacked on Potter-themed foods that included jelly beans (for Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans), chocolate galleons, caramels, and “muggle foods” such as chips and crackers.
“It’s something that stuck with me through childhood,” Canipe said. “This is the end of Harry’s journey, and it ends many of our childhood journeys.”
After students sat down with their food, four enthusiastic seniors took the stage for a mini-performance.
They were dressed as the marauder’s map, which details the secret passageways of Hogwarts.