Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Pre-Release Festivities in US/PA/Exton

[ Underbase Home || The Non-Sequitur Express ]

On sat-21-jun-2003, Scholastic released the long-awaited fifth volume of J.K.Rowling's "Harry Potter" fantasy series: the 870-page, $30-dollar hardback Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Bookstores across the nation scheduled night-before festivities to celebrate the release (with games, contests and costumes), and NSX was on the scene to bring you the local color. (Silly me, I forgot to dress as a reporter for The Daily Prophet.) I party-hopped to Chester County Book Company's second branch in US/PA/Downingtown, Barnes & Noble in Main Street Exton, and Waldenbooks in the Exton Square Mall.

More photos and written coverage to come!

Do you appear in one of these photos? Would you like to be identified, or (conversely) anonymized or removed? Would you like a high-res copy of the photo for your family? Contact me.

Each thumbnail in this index opens into a second browser window. Subsequent photos will open in the same window, so for your convenience, don't close it; just resize it and move it to one side.

	Thumbnail	Scale, Size	Comments
1		300x283 27.3-kB	MISC. WITCH & HARRY Barnes & Noble, US/PA/Exton fri-20-jun-2003-23:30 Meredith V. as "the witch" and her older brother Timmy V. as "Harry". Meredith hasn't yet read the books, and so wasn't quite sure who she was supposed to be; but her mother agreed that she might be Hermione, after a horrible mishap involving magical shampoo.
2		300x250 25.4-kB	HOGWARTS STUDENTS WITH PETS Barnes & Noble, US/PA/Exton fri-20-jun-2003-23:30 Amy H. and her sister Alyssa with their Hogwarts-approved pets (rat and frog, respectively). Note the store-supplied glasses.
3		300x200 27.3-kB	READY FOR THE MATCH Barnes & Noble, US/PA/Exton fri-20-jun-2003-23:30 Adam B. and his brother Ben as Quidditch players, in Gryffindor colors.
4		300x284 28.2-kB	ALSO READY FOR THE MATCH Barnes & Noble, US/PA/Exton fri-20-jun-2003-23:30 Josh E. as a Golden Snitch, the prime objective in the game of Quidditch. Okay, so he looks like a lumpy pumpkin -- but he gets points for the idea.
5		300x225 33.0-kB	A VAST CROWD Barnes & Noble, US/PA/Exton fri-20-jun-2003-23:50 This bookstore has been open for less than a year and has never seen a crowd like this. They're milling about, preparing to be called into line by ticket-number to purchase their reserved copies of the book.
6		300x300 28.4-kB	ACTIVITY STATION SLYTHERIN Barnes & Noble, US/PA/Exton fri-20-jun-2003-23:40 The store arranged a half-dozen games and activities for the kids, most named according to parts of Hogwarts. Here at Slytherin, they could fabricate wizard hats and magic wands.
7		300x273 30.2-kB	THE SORTING HAT (CAULDRON) Barnes & Noble, US/PA/Exton fri-20-jun-2003-23:00 Upon entering the store, you could be randomly assigned to one of Hogwarts' four residential houses. Here a store employee hands out self-adhesive house-badges, and rubbery plastic Harry Potter glasses.
8		300x269 30.0-kB	ACTIVITY STATION HUFFLEPUFF Barnes & Noble, US/PA/Exton fri-20-jun-2003-23:20 Hufflepuff featured two games: a flip-the-cards memory game, and this spinner-based trivia game. Here a store employee (note the ears and critter) quizzes a young fan.
9		300x401 29.3-kB	HITTING THE BOOKS Chester County Book Company, US/PA/Downingtown fri-20-jun-2003-22:30 Molly G. and friend Kelsie A. as a pair of Hogwarts students.
10		200x314 25.3-kB	READY FOR ACTION Chester County Book Company, US/PA/Downingtown fri-20-jun-2003-22:30 Joseph R. hams it up with a pair of Harry Potter specs and a borrowed wand.
11		200x338 27.4-kB	NOW FOR KNITTING Chester County Book Company, US/PA/Downingtown fri-20-jun-2003-22:40 Employee Mary B. appears as "Mrs.Twittersby, a member of Mrs.Weasley's knitting circle", alongside the guess-the-jellybean-count contest.
12		200x388 24.2-kB	CANINE COSTUMER Chester County Book Company, US/PA/Downingtown fri-20-jun-2003-22:20 Employee Allie brought Banjo, her black labrador, to appear as Fluffy, the guard-Cerberus from _The Sorceror's Stone_. The odd bow-like protrusions on Banjo's collar are the two extra heads. Banjo didn't feel like standing still for his photo.
13		400x277 28.9-kB	PREPPED FOR SALES Waldenbooks, US/PA/Exton sat-21-jun-2003-00:15 This particular branch had reserved 900 copies of the book, in preparation for the midnight crowd ("parents have told us they'll be dropping off teens by the carload"). This shelf could hold only a hundred; related merchandise hangs above.
14		400x277 33.4-kB	WAITING IN LINE Waldenbooks, US/PA/Exton sat-21-jun-2003-00:10 Danielle, Logan, Elizabeth in school garb, and Anja in Quidditch gear. (Youngest member Robin appears only the photo taken in the dark corridor.)
15		200x364 22.8-kB	STORE FIXTURES Waldenbooks, US/PA/Exton sat-21-jun-2003-00:10 A flotilla of plush snowy owls, part of the store decorations. Behind the sales desk hang handmade banners for the four Hogwarts residential houses.
16		300x245 21.5-kB	THE DARK QUEUE Waldenbooks, US/PA/Exton fri-20-jun-2003-23:50 The Exton Mall isn't usually open at midnight, but several hundred brave souls queued up in the corridor, undaunted by its unfamiliar and spooky darkness. (A trio of security guards exist beyond the photo's left boundary.)