In Charlotte, it’s never been a better time to be a Harry Potter fan

Every year, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry divides approximately 143 new first years into four houses — Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. On Feb. 1, the Charlotte Checkers sorted 8,076. (To answer your question, yes, the Sorting Hat is OK.)

“When everyone got into the game, they got a wristband telling them which house they were in,” said Paul Branecky, the vice president of marketing and communications for the AHL hockey team. Then when, say, a Ravenclaw won a prize during an in-game activity, the other Ravenclaws in the crowd did, too.

The event, HP Tribute Night, was the team’s first-ever foray into Potter fandom and included theme-appropriate entertainment such as quidditch on ice and special choreography from the CheckMates, the Checkers’ dance team. The team also sold over 800 Harry Potter packages, which included a game ticket, a Checkers hat, and a photo with a live owl. “We could only devote so much of the owls’ time, believe it or not,” Branecky said.

That Harry Potter everything is still so in-demand 12 years after the last book came out and eight years after the last movie (of the originals, folks, no arguments about “Fantastic Beasts” and “Cursed Child” in the comments) isn’t surprising if you’re a Potter fan yourself, but for local businesses, J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world has become a go-to revenue generator—basically, all the time.

Over the past two years, the Charlotte region’s Triwizard Cup has runneth over with Harry Potter events: RiRa’s Get Wingardium Leviosa’d at the Expector Hangover Bar Crawl, the Rural Hill Quidditch Cup hosted by UNCC’s quidditch team, the Yule Ball and Christmas in Hogsmeade at Cavendish Brewing Company, Harry Potter Night on Rock Hill’s ice rink, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in Concert at Ovens Auditorium, a book-by-book trivia series at Thirsty Nomad Brewing, Science on the Rocks: Wizarding World at Discovery Place Science, and numerous paint and sip and movie trivia events.

You can even book a Harry Potter-themed Airbnb, or order Butterbeer at Seoul Food Meat Co. in South End.

The trend is still going strong in 2019. Already, dress-up-your-dog rescue event Welcome to Pawgwarts! at Lucky Dog Bark & Brew, geeky marketplace Muggles Market Too, and the Checkers’ HP Tribute Night have come and gone. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in Concert and Wizard Fest Charlotte at Neighborhood Theatre are set to take place in March. Plus, interactive spaces like Flour Power and Kidcreate Art Studio continue to have family-focused Potter events on the books.

You’d think the Potter-ssance would eventually die down, but similar Charlotte’s ever-rising brewery count, the number events speaks to ongoing demand, not to a saturated market. In fact, in the fall, NoDa Brewing Company opened ticket reservations for its sold-out October Harry Potter Trivia almost a month in advance. “Because of the overwhelming demand (that would simply not fit in our tap room), we are now requiring teams to register (FREE tickets),” the brewery posted in the Facebook event at the time. Other spaces like Flying Saucer near UNCC have scheduled two back-to-back Potter trivia slots in one night to accommodate large crowds.  

Tara Fitzgerald, who owns two Painting with a Twist franchises in the Charlotte area, hosts wizard-themed painting and trivia events at her studios every few months, most of which sell out by the time of the event. She attributes the continued popularity of Harry Potter themes to both the city’s wealth of 20-somethings who have grown up with the books, and the series’ ability to connect with kids. “It’s just one of those perpetually iconic things,” Fitzgerald said. “There are still kids (who come to the classes) in second, third, fourth, and fifth grades. It still resonates.”

Fitzgerald said when Painting with a Twist posts new Potter events, people often reach out to ask if they’re planning to add additional dates later on. They also find the popularity of the event depends on the artwork — fans love getting to choose their own house colors when they paint wizard robes, but the event with the castle painting, which is meant to represent Hogwarts, doesn’t always fill up as fast.

Both Fitzgerald and Branecky said the issue they face when hosting events is the Warner Bros. copyright, so they’ve had to find creative loopholes. That’s why there are so many quirky event names around town and why, for instance, you can’t paint Harry’s face at Painting with a Twist. “Anyone can paint an owl because there are owls in nature,” Fitzgerald said. But an owl wearing a scarf while standing on a stack of books? That’s murky territory.

[Related: 10 geeky activities to do in Charlotte—from Harry Potter to Star Wars]

Branecky said the learning curve for the Checkers’ first Harry Potter event was steep — he’s not familiar with the series himself, and “the in-game presentation guys had to take a crash course to figure out which clips to show.” But the theme was more popular than others, so they’d like to do it again. Fans dressed up, and the venue was only about 300 shy of capacity. Even the players themselves were enthusiastic. “A lot of our players are very knowledgeable about Harry Potter,” he said, adding that many had surprisingly thorough responses when asked what houses they would be in.

As for Chubby, the team’s mascot, Branecky said he didn’t know offhand what house the polar bear would be in, but an hour later, came this reply: “Chubby tells us that he’s in Slytherin due to his ‘mischievous nature and drive to win.’”

This story was originally published February 24, 2019 at 9:02 PM with the headline "In Charlotte, it’s never been a better time to be a Harry Potter fan."