From May 21-24, hundreds of Harry Potter fans gathered at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel for LeakyCon 2009. What is LeakyCon? I’m glad you asked. It was a Harry Potter conference held in Boston this past week, organized by The-Leaky-Cauldron.org. Yes, there are HP conferences.
Amidst strange looks from passerbys, Potter fans from around the world came together, dressed in costumes, to celebrate their love for the series and have fun at the same time. I was one of those fans.
This was my first Potter conference, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had read the schedule beforehand, but I didn’t know exactly how everything was going to happen. The conference opened with food of course (The Opening Feast) at the Castle across from the hotel (which was made into the Great Hall).
I, having just arrived from the T, was not in my costume. I was not alone, but some fans went all out and dressed as various characters from the books. There were of course various students and all of the houses were represented: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. Then there were the much more creative costumes: Dumbledore and Hagrid took time out of their busy schedules to come to the conference and talk to one of the many Bellatrix Lestranges that were mingling about.
After the feasting came the real fun: Wizard Rock (Wrock). The first of three concerts at the con, “Evil Night” featured performances from Wiz-Hop group Swish and Flick, the out-of-place Justin Flinch-Fletchley and the Sugar Quills, The Parselmouths, and the more well-known Draco and the Malfoys. Ultimately, this opening night embodied what the con was all about: a bunch of Harry Potter-obsessed fans getting together to join in some Potter fun.
Throughout the rest of the conference, I went to a few talks, including one in which Leaky Cauldron staffer (and PotterCast host) Sue Upton exalted the virtues of the Hufflepuffs (concluding that everyone has a little Hufflepuff in them with a few exceptions (someone who will not be named in this blog)) and another that examined the different types of bigotry found in “Harry Potter”.
I caught a screening of the documentary “We Are Wizards”, which helped to portray the Potter fandom at its core. I was able to see my favorite Potter podcast (PotterCast) record a live show. I got to attend to a Q&A with Leaky Cauldron webmistress, PotterCaster, and “Harry, A History”-author Melissa Anelli. And of course, I wrocked out multiple times, seeing thirteen bands total (in addition to those mentioned above: Tonks and the Aurors, Gred & Forge, The Whomping Willows, Harry and the Potters, Ministry of Magic, RiddleTm, The Mudbloods, The Moaning Myrtles, and The Remus Lupins).
LeakyCon 2009 had to be one of the best experiences I have had in a long time. It was fun and interesting. I had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world who were all interested in the same thing: Harry Potter. Everyone was super friendly, willing to talk to anyone about anything concerning Harry Potter or life. The feeling of community was unbeatable. Plus, who can top the experience of jumping around screaming “Harry Potter!” at the top of your lungs to the tune of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” with Harry and the Potters? Trust me: it is an incredible sight and sound.
It’s difficult to sum up the awesomeness that was LeakyCon for those who did not attend (or those who don’t obsess about HP as I do), but it’s kind of like an extended family coming together for a reunion, except we all like each other. It was a giant three-day party, complete with costumes and wrocking tunes!
As Harry and the Potters sing in their song “The Weapon”: “And there’s one thing that I’ve got/One thing that you’ve got inside you, too/One thing that we’ve got/And the one thing we’ve got is enough/To save us all/The weapon we have is love.”
If you want to see videos, YouTube “leakycon”. There are tons of videos of the wizard rock and really the whole conference!