Harry Potter Symposium
From Salem Links and Lore
- The Harry Potter Symposium was held as a five-day conference from Oct. 6th through Oct. 10th, 2005 in Salem.
- Salem was host to a symposium celebrating the Harry Potter phenomenon, called "The Witching Hour, a Harry Potter Symposium".
- Festivities included a Halloween Ball, an all-day Quidditch Tournament on the common, as well as discussion panels. Panelists were from M.I.T. and New York University. This was the second symposium hosted by HP Education Fanon Inc., a nonprofit Harry Potter fan group based in Texas. The group's first meeting, Nimbus 2003, drew about 600 to Walt Disney World in 2003.
- Salem was chosen as the second meeting place because it is the only American city mentioned in the series.
- More Symposiums were held since then: Portus, July 10 – 13, 2008 was held in Dallas, Texas, and Level Two, July 23 to 26, 2009 in San Jose, California.
See Also
"Checking out the convention" Salem News, Oct. 8, 2005.
"Harry Potter fans show Quidditch techniques" Salem News, Oct. 10, 2005, p A 1
"When Harry met Salem; more than 1,000 Potter readers swoop into city for Symposium" Boston Globe,Oct. 6, 2005, p. N 03
