Last night I went to the festivities leading up to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the Borders near our apartment. There was a spelling bee, costume contest, “Hogwarts Express” trolley rides, a debate, and coloring and games, even though many of the people there were over 21. Sure there were plenty of kids there, but I came to realize that a lot of Harry Potter fans who grew up with the books are Erica’s age or older, and since that is the demographic in our neighborhood, there were many young adults participating (some somewhat sheepishly, especially in the spelling bee).

It was actually pretty fun to see how excited people were. Three teenage girls next to me on the trolley were beside themselves with anticipation about the book, and spent the entire time talking about the previous books and movies. There was a little boy in a wizard costume near the front of the line who looked like he was going to wet his pants. I tried to get a picture of him, but his mom was in my way with her camera. He got his book and kept saying “it’s so heavy!”. I’m sure most of the people who bought the book last night made at least some attempt to read it as soon as they got home.

And no, I didn’t buy the book. I have only read the first two books, so I didn’t feel like I needed to buy one day one. Just don’t tell me how it ends before I read it. Someday.

A few photos at Flickr.