Kensington ready for other events, despite cancelling Harry Potter festival

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – No more chocolate frogs, golden snitches, magic wands or your favourite glass of butterbeer.

Around this time, businesses in Kensington would be getting ready for the annual Harry Potter festival in July, but not this time.

Plans to turn the iconic Calgary community into Diagon Alley vanished last fall after the Kensington BRZ was forced to cancel it.

“We got a letter from the new owner to the Harry Potter rights saying that they were closing down Harry Potter festivals and you need to be licensed to move forward,” said Annie MacInnis with the BRZ.

MacInnis said that they attempted to rebrand the event as a fantasy festival but it just didn’t have the same magic.

“We did only have about 6 weeks to do that rebrand. Calgarians didn’t really support the change. We had about less than half the people who would come out to Harry Potter.”

Despite the dire news for wizards and muggles alike, Kensington will still host many great events throughout the year.

“We do Christmas in Kensington with free horse and wagon rides,” said MacInnis. “Free Butterfield Acres petting zoos, free movies at the Plaza Theatre. We do free events.”

The Harry Potter festival started in 2016 as a spur of the moment event to celebrate the release of the screenplay “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”

It grew to an annual festival that attracted some 25,000 visitors to the area each year.

MacInnis said they are looking to hold a festival during the summer but as of now, they’re looking forward to their upcoming events.

“Our intention this year is to do some smaller events that we are hoping are going to charm Calgarians the same as all the other events Kensington has done over the years.”

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