Tag Archives: Events

2020 Yule Ball

The 2020 Yule Ball may have been virtual, but we devised a whole weekend of fun to share for a good cause! We had two nights of music, trivia, a Virtual TriWizard Tournament, a raffle, storytime, and all to benefit the TransActive Gender Project!

We weren’t able to sit down together for the Yule Ball feast, but the magical folks at Hungry Heart Bakery created a special selection of To Go Feast Boxes. It was a spread that would have made Molly Weasley proud!

We had not one night of music, but two! On Friday, DJ Switch kept us dancing, and on Sunday, we wrocked out to the best Wizard rock out there.

We also held a Virtual TriWizard tournament! Champions were faced with a list of at-home challenges of their determination, creativity, and wizarding skills. They crafted bowtruckles, performed the Durmstrang’s entrance into the Great Hall, and used their imaginations to create all new aspects of the Wizarding World!

The Yule Ball raffle was held entirely online, featuring items and crafts donated my local members.

Proceeds from ticket sales and the raffle totalled $2,950, which we in turn donated to TransActive Gender Project! TransActive provides services and support to gender-questioning and gender-expansive youth and their families in the PNW.

Thank you to everyone who bought tickets and participated! We look forward to seeing you in person at the next event!

Bake Sale for TransActive!

The weapon we have is love…and cookies! In February, PDXpelliarmus baked up some sweet and magical treats worthy of the Hogwarts Express trolley. Chocolate Frogs! Butterbeer cookies! Cauldron cakes! These goodies and many more were on sale at Books With Pictures on Saturday, February 15th and at The Nerd Out on Sunday, February 16th, with all proceeds going to benefit TransActive Gender Project.

In the evening of the 15th, we continued the magic with more tasty morsels to go with a very special reading of “Puffs” at Books With Pictures! Because we all know that time spent with a certain group of loyal and hardworking badgers just isn’t the same without a sweet treat!

All proceeds from the bake sale were donated to TransActive Gender Project, which provides services and support to transgender and gender-expansive youth and their families. Across two days, we were able to raise more than $600 for their organization!

2018 Yule Ball

The second annual Yule Ball was another magical night!  We threw off our muggle lives for an evening to feast and dance and bring more magic into the world.  Scroll to the bottom of this post to find beautiful photos of the evening!

Every ticket we sold this year, either to get in the door or for a raffle prize, is helping us support a worthy nonprofit, Immigration Counseling Service with a donation of $4000!  Their work with the Pacific Northwest’s immigrant and refugee community has never been more needed, and PDXpelliarmus was very happy to aid in their mission to #StoptheSnatchers.

The Yule Ball raffle was a big part of our donation, and it wouldn’t not have been as possible except for donations from several local businesses and artists.

Alice Carrier Tattoos

Candy Tyme

Elaborate Flights of Fancy

Metropolitan Performing Arts

Morrigan’s Mantel

The Nerd Out

Rose City Glass and Gems

Sweet Anthem Handmade Perfumes

Things From Another World

Time Traveler’s Costume Guild

The work that goes into the Yule Ball every year is worth it, but we must take a second to thank this year’s extremely hardworking volunteers, Robin Coon, Katie Anderson, Tara Adams, Nadia Peer, Gwen Amsbury, Chris Robinson, Heather Agidus, Marisa Borrevik, and Genny Davis!  We also have to give a round of applause to Serah Pope, who designed and ran the lighting for us.  The Emerald Ballroom has never looked more magical, and that’s due to hard work from everyone involved.

If you’re excited for 2019 already, there’s a FB event here follow our progress!

 

You can find many, many more photos here.

2017 Yule Ball

The first annual 2017 Yule Ball was held on December 9th, 2017, a night that will long live on for those of us who planned, prepared, and attended it.  Words like magical and enchanted don’t even come close to describing it.  When we first conceived of the idea in the spring, we weren’t sure we could pull it off, or that we’d find enough people who wanted to come.  Fast forward a few months, and the IndieGoGo campaign broke through its goal in the first 24 hours, and the entire Ball was sold out by September.

 

Everyone showed up in their wizarding best, from formal wear, to wizard robes, to costumes that spanned the gap from creative to slightly terrifying. Candles floated.  We ate and drank and drank some more.  (The bars were warned, but still ran out of butterbeer…twice.)  Cupcakes were devoured.  DJ Switch kept us dancing, and we rocked out with Kirby Krackle.  We gave away an array of raffle prize packages to please almost every kind of fan, from haircuts to the TriWizard Trophy.  (Not a portkey, I’m relieved to report.)

 

And we did it all for a good cause. After the final budgeting was done, the PDX HPA was able to donate $3000 to EACH of our charity partners, Chick!Tech and Girls Build.  (Our donation to Girls Build will be going toward scholarships for eight girls!)  We also made contact with the wider Harry Potter fan community in Portland and gain lots of new members to help us when we start planning the 2018 Yule Ball!

 

Thank you to everyone who helped along the way, be it in the planning, boosting the signal, volunteering on the night of, or even just attending. You all helped make the first Yule Ball possible, and spectacular.

A special thanks goes out to Hungry Heart Bakery for providing the delicious mini-cupcakes, and to Sweet Anthem, McMenamin’s, Sport Clips, and Relax PDX for donating to the raffle prizes!

 

2017 Rose City Comic Con

Table RCCC

Our first year with both a table and a panel at Rose City Comic Con went really well!  A big thanks to Katie Anderson, Stephanie Griggs, Anna Ho, and Robin Coon who volunteered.  At the table, we spent most our time talking to people about the Harry Potter Alliance or Harry Potter in general.  (We were the only HP dedicated table at RCCC.)  We also sold buttons and had raffles on Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday’s raffle was for House bags made by Robin, and Sunday’s for two tickets to the Yule Ball.  (As of now, the Ravenclaw bag and the Yule Ball tickets are not yet claimed.)

 

On Friday, we hosted our panel, “Harry Potter Alliance – The Weapon We have is Love” in Panel Room 8, at 6:30.  Considering we were going up against Weird All Yankovic, we have a pretty good turnout.  We talked about the history and mission of the HPA, and the recent events that the Portland Chapter has hosted.  We focused on the difference that can be made by small acts, and how we all can change the world.  It was well received, and several people visited our table afterward to ask for more information on getting involved.

 

Overall, we connected with a lot of Harry Potter fans and made a little money.  It was a good weekend for the PDX HPA.

 

By the numbers:

77 people signed up for the PDX HPA email list.

31 new members have joined one of the Facebook groups.

$477 was earned in button and raffle ticket sales.  ($425.35 will go toward paying back the investment in our new button maker and printing.)

2017 Yule Ball Tickets

Tickets now on sale at Brown Paper Tickets for the 2017 Yule Ball!  Join us for an evening off well-mannered frivolity:  2017 Yule Ball

Image

2017 Yule Ball

Poster Early Ticket

Meeting Recap – May 22, 2017

PDX HPA Meeting Recap

May 21, 2017

Belmont Library Meeting Room

 

Attended by:    Bart Sylfae

Brandie Sylfae

Robbin Coon

Bas Porter

 

Accio Books

With the official Accio Books campaign wrapped, we talked about the books we had donated for both Beaumont and Words Alive. Of the initial list from Beaumont, there were only 10 books we didn’t get, and we fell short on our goal of 36 copies of “This Side of Home” by 6 copies.  We’ll be delivering those books to Beaumont later this month.

 

The books going to Words Alive will be shipped in the next couple of weeks. (Thanks to Robin for the boxes!)  Per the group’s agreement, the House Points reported to the HPA for our donations were given to Hufflepuff, as they were the clear winner of our chapter competition.  I will make an official announcement regarding the final standings on Tuesday.

 

 

Harry Potter comes to Kennedy School!

On Saturday, Brandie and I met with Beth from McMenamin’s Kennedy School. They will be showing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on Sunday, July 30, 2017.  Our chapter will be “hosting” the showing, with a costume contest, trivia competition, school supply drive, and raffle.  The movie will begin at 12pm, with the doors opening at 10:45, and the activities beginning around 11:15.

 

Proceeds from the raffle will be going to IRCO (Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization), and if they have use for the school supplies, they will go to IRCO as well. If not, we will need to find a secondary charity to donate supplies to.  If you have a suggestion, please let us know!

 

We will also need to gather up raffle prizes! We are planning to have a specialized prize for each House, as well as a Grand Prize.  We will be contacting local businesses for donations.  If you have items of your own you’d like to donate, including HP crafts, we’d love to have it!

 

Even more importantly, we need volunteers! The Kennedy School theater holds 200, and I’d be shocked if it wasn’t full.  We will need 1-2 people at the raffle/donation drop off table, someone at the door to give out programs, and 1-2 people to assist during the costume contest and trivia.  Volunteers would need to be available from about 10am until the movie begins.  You are responsible for buying your own movie ticket ($4), but they may be other perks.  (See below.)

 

 

Participation Recognition

We’ve talked at previous meetings about how to reward anyone who gets actively involved with our chapter. Already, we are recognizing people who have assisted on previous events by placing them in the appropriate Years.  (For example, Morgan Johnson has been to both HEAP events, as well as Fantastic Beasts at the Bagdad, and she attended a meeting, so she is officially a Fourth Year.  Someone who is a member of the FB group but has never participated is a First Year.  Once all the Years are completed, you can pick your own title, such as Katie Anderson, Professor of Transfiguration.)

 

We are going to add collectable badge ribbons, one for each event. HEAP ribbons will be based on the year attended, rather than the total number we’ve done.  So if you’ve been to both, you can get a HEAP Year One and a HEAP Year Two ribbon.  If this year was your first year, you get a HEAP Year One.  Does that make sense?  We will also be getting “Wizard Activist” ribbons, which will be awarded for cumulative participation.  (To be determined.)

 

 

FINALLY…

The Yule Ball. Yes, we want to make it happen.  We will be researching possible locations and discussing what sort of event we want it to be in the near future.  As we begin to plan, transparency is going to be a big part of what we do.  We discussed and agreed that Kickstarter may be the way to sell advance tickets and gage the level of interest.  We’d love to have an elaborate ball with a hotel partner, waltzing lessons, plated dinner, and live music, but we need to make sure that we could sell enough tickets to cover the costs.

 

You can help us out by giving us feedback as we plan and share the details of that plan. I know what sort of Yule Ball I want to attend, but it’s more important that it be a Yule Ball YOU want to attend.

 

We have not set a date for the next meeting, but I will share it as soon as we do.

Hogwarts Early Admission Program – Year Two

On Saturday, March 25th, the HPA hosted the Hogwart’s Early Admission Program in the Small Hall at the Hollywood Public Library.  This event was the kick-off of our Accio Book campaign, collecting books to donate to Beaumont Middle School and the HPA.  Much like HEAP – Year One, we had a small but amazing crowd!

 

Attendees started the program by meeting with our resident wand maker, Mr. Rednavilo. (Olivander?  Who?  Never heard of him.)  For our event, he hand-crafted special wands designed to test a prospective student’s magical ability.  After being selected by their wands, each student had the opportunity to customize it to their tastes.  Styles varied from the aggressively glittery to the geometric, and no two were alike!

 

After a rousing version of the Hogwarts school song, Katie led our Transfiguration Class. Teams were formed and assigned the task of transfiguring some clay into both every day and magical items.  It was a beautiful cacophony.  (Until the librarian came in and asked us to be quieter, as we were disturbing the muggles.)  The first round was very close, and the second round was a tie, so we held a transfigure-off to determine first, second, and third place teams.  Prizes included a number of magical items, including Portable Patronuses, vials of Felix Felicis, and Butterbeer Drops!

 

Last, we practiced our dueling. Students were asked to decipher a series of clues to determine the appropriate spell, and then outcast their opponent.  Training wands were used, so no visits to Madame Pomfrey were required.  When the duelers could not guess the clue, it went to the remaining students to attempt, to win House Points!

 

At the end of the program, the points were tallied as thus:

Slytherin – 4 Points (All given by the Deputy Headmistress…to the Deputy Headmistress.)

Hufflepuff – 21 Points

Gryffindor – 50 Points

Ravenclaw – 50 Points

 

We had our first ever tie! The students were overwhelmingly Gryffindor, so it was a strong showing by Ravenclaw to match them!

 

Most importantly, we collected a lot of books for donation, and connected with some new people who hadn’t heard of the HPA before. Accio Books will be continuing throughout April and May, but we could not have asked for a better start.

Fantastic Beasts at the Bagdad!

Get those Time Turners ready! Our next event is going to be “Fantastic Beasts at the Bagdad”, on Friday, November 18th, 2016, at the Bagdad Theater.  We have two rooms reserved in the Backstage Bar, where we’ll be celebrating the newest addition to J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding world.  There will be food, drinks, a wand raffle, and a special Very Magical Person entrance into the theater, so our guests do not have to wait in line.

fantastic-bagdad-poster-2

All of this, of course, is in continued support of the Protego campaign. Our charity partner for the event is TransActive Gender Center, a local organization that focuses on supporting children, families, and educators.  All profits from ticket sales will be donated to them, with the wand raffle proceeds being applied to future HPA endeavors.

 

You can buy tickets here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2706955

 

The Fantastic House Elves working to plan and manage this event are truly fantastic! A continuing thank you goes out to Andrea Snow, Robin Coon, Wes Cronin, and Brandie Sylfae!