A book, a branch, and 610.5 pounds of ice later...
(First written for Julie E. Czerneda's Newsgroup on sff.net, July 21, 2007)
....Harry Potter is essentially behind us. OK, it wasn't so much a branch as 40-50 artificial trees and plants of assorted stripe.
First off, it was primarily a success because of volunteers. People who haven't worked at the store for 5 years, along with their children, came to make it work. Harry Potter nights have never been technically profitable for us as we sell the books at a steep discount to keep up, then spend thousands of dollars hosting a party. Without those volunteers, it would have been a far less exciting affair, and far more chaotic.
We estimate that 3500 people wen t through the store last night between 10:00pm and 1:30am. Others merely came by the tent outside to pick up their copy of the book and slipped away, but there was no way to quantify the overlap.
We had some power issues in the tents, none of which proved overwhelming. I heard no complaints, so assume that it went well.
The big hit (other than the book itself) was the Haunted Forest on the second floor, with about 150' of narrow twisty paths between cloth covered shelves and an assortment of artificial Christmas trees, cedars, ivys, ferns, potted palms and few things even I didn't recognize. Partway along that path, the kids got a good look at a brilliantly executed Tom Riddle's tomb, created by the grace of our extremely artsy (and crafty!) children's manager Ann Pisio. (I can't recall if I mentioned that I interviewed for the position, but I am happy Ann got it, she is energetic and creative and is already doing a great job.)
Also on the top floor, a couple of volunteers read tea leaves and palms to the delight of many.
McMaster's seemed greatly pleased with the 70 odd "groups" ( 1-5 people) who had potter photos done. They had a gorgeous faux stone background and plenty of costumes and accessories, including a well executed owl that could be positioned as though perching on someone's shoulder.
As ever, the sorting hat was particularly popular with the younger crowd. A concealed accomplice activated a tape for a few seconds at a time to provide a very thoughtful voice to the hat which was suspended by fish line above a high wooden stool.
Another big hit was Ann's Penseive. An antique finished urn with a mixture of lights, liquids and dry ice that would give Warner Brother's special effects team a run for their money.
Outside, Ollivanders was a hit. 1500 wand had been made by volunteers and proved very popular, running out well before midnight even though they were not free as I had thought.
Shortly before midnight, I hooked my laptop into the sound system to start the crush with a playing of Big Ben striking twelve. It was amazing. Loud enough to vibrate some things, and lead to a shout of excitement that spilled out through the parking lot and I am sure was heard for a few blocks around. Hopefully the neighbours will forgive us.
Again, the tent that traded pre-sold certificates for books worked like a charm. I'm guessing we handed out just under 1500 books in 31 minutes, which is nearly double what we did in 20 minutes with the last book. The only down side there was that the line watchers were not clear on their raison d'etre, and when the line vanished at 12:31 we had far too many books out of boxes, and the boxes had been flattened and put in a recycling bin. I climbed the bin to recover about 50 so that we could re-tape them and repack around 600 books that shouldn't have been unpacked. That actually took longer than the unpacking and handing out had.
I managed to stay for tear down until about 2:00am, at which point I sat for a couple of minutes to talk to a former co-worker who volunteered for the night and immediately stiffened up too much to function. I left about a quarter after, while many were there until 4:00am.
Anyway, at about 11:00 this morning I dragged myself out to haul the 600+ pounds of melting ice out of the back of our van (I'd parked with the back downhill so it could safely drip all night). It is piled at the side of our driveway with "free ice" signs and is slowly being whittled away by passers-by.
Now, Harry Potter is done, and I can move on to weeding the garden which I've ignored since before the flood in June.
Kent
First off, it was primarily a success because of volunteers. People who haven't worked at the store for 5 years, along with their children, came to make it work. Harry Potter nights have never been technically profitable for us as we sell the books at a steep discount to keep up, then spend thousands of dollars hosting a party. Without those volunteers, it would have been a far less exciting affair, and far more chaotic.
We estimate that 3500 people wen t through the store last night between 10:00pm and 1:30am. Others merely came by the tent outside to pick up their copy of the book and slipped away, but there was no way to quantify the overlap.
We had some power issues in the tents, none of which proved overwhelming. I heard no complaints, so assume that it went well.
The big hit (other than the book itself) was the Haunted Forest on the second floor, with about 150' of narrow twisty paths between cloth covered shelves and an assortment of artificial Christmas trees, cedars, ivys, ferns, potted palms and few things even I didn't recognize. Partway along that path, the kids got a good look at a brilliantly executed Tom Riddle's tomb, created by the grace of our extremely artsy (and crafty!) children's manager Ann Pisio. (I can't recall if I mentioned that I interviewed for the position, but I am happy Ann got it, she is energetic and creative and is already doing a great job.)
Also on the top floor, a couple of volunteers read tea leaves and palms to the delight of many.
McMaster's seemed greatly pleased with the 70 odd "groups" ( 1-5 people) who had potter photos done. They had a gorgeous faux stone background and plenty of costumes and accessories, including a well executed owl that could be positioned as though perching on someone's shoulder.
As ever, the sorting hat was particularly popular with the younger crowd. A concealed accomplice activated a tape for a few seconds at a time to provide a very thoughtful voice to the hat which was suspended by fish line above a high wooden stool.
Another big hit was Ann's Penseive. An antique finished urn with a mixture of lights, liquids and dry ice that would give Warner Brother's special effects team a run for their money.
Outside, Ollivanders was a hit. 1500 wand had been made by volunteers and proved very popular, running out well before midnight even though they were not free as I had thought.
Shortly before midnight, I hooked my laptop into the sound system to start the crush with a playing of Big Ben striking twelve. It was amazing. Loud enough to vibrate some things, and lead to a shout of excitement that spilled out through the parking lot and I am sure was heard for a few blocks around. Hopefully the neighbours will forgive us.
Again, the tent that traded pre-sold certificates for books worked like a charm. I'm guessing we handed out just under 1500 books in 31 minutes, which is nearly double what we did in 20 minutes with the last book. The only down side there was that the line watchers were not clear on their raison d'etre, and when the line vanished at 12:31 we had far too many books out of boxes, and the boxes had been flattened and put in a recycling bin. I climbed the bin to recover about 50 so that we could re-tape them and repack around 600 books that shouldn't have been unpacked. That actually took longer than the unpacking and handing out had.
I managed to stay for tear down until about 2:00am, at which point I sat for a couple of minutes to talk to a former co-worker who volunteered for the night and immediately stiffened up too much to function. I left about a quarter after, while many were there until 4:00am.
Anyway, at about 11:00 this morning I dragged myself out to haul the 600+ pounds of melting ice out of the back of our van (I'd parked with the back downhill so it could safely drip all night). It is piled at the side of our driveway with "free ice" signs and is slowly being whittled away by passers-by.
Now, Harry Potter is done, and I can move on to weeding the garden which I've ignored since before the flood in June.
Kent
posted by Kent @ 2:30 p.m.
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