On the Road: Harry Potter Day, Sandwich MA

To celebrate the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the entire town of Sandwich has undergone a magical transformation. There are trolleys decorated as "Knight Busses" and a "Wizard Express" train the does scenic rides along the Cape Cod Canal (sold out!).  Many of the local businesses are participating with various special deals and giveaways, and kids in wich and wizard hats are everywhere.

I parked at the Henry T. Wing school to get the shuttle into town. Or rather than shuttle, I should say the Knight Bus. The trolley was decorated as the Knight Bus, complete with an "All Destinations. Nothing Underwater." sign. Staffed by Hogwarts students (well, Sandwich High School students, actually, but they did a great job of getting into the role and chatting up the kids on the bus).

The Knight Bus dropped us off in Sandwich Village in time to see the departure of the 2:00 running of the "Wizard Express" train, a scenic Harry-Potter-themed train ride along the Cape Cod Canal, that was the biggest hit of the event. In fact, all of the rides (a benefit for the Sandwich High School Library) were sold out.

I wandered through town, passing fortune telling and facepainting booths and a "Magical Menagerie" courtesy of the Humane Society.

The public library provided free internet access for a quick check-in. They also had a talking Sorting Hat (with a long line of young witches and wizards; a result of Slytherin got almost as many cheers as Gryffindor did!). In the basement, they were showing a free Harry Potter movie Marathon. I caught the ending scene of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Sometimes the only thing harder than standing up to your enemies is standing up to your friends. Ten points to Gryffindor indeed!).

From there, I took a few pictures at the Dexter Grist Mill (outfitted as the Shrieking Shack and sporting a "Beware of Giant Squid" sign on the shore of the mill pond.

Here is the Dexter Grist Mill water wheel.

And a view upstream of the mill pond.

 The nearby town hall had been transformed into the Ministry of Magic for the day.

Across from the Dexter Grist Mill is the Sandwich Glass Museum & Glassworks. I got there just as their multimedia film show was starting up. It's actually a pretty clever mix of three video screens, some dioramas with animatronic effects, and surround sound that tells the history of Sandwich and up to the opening of the glass factory that was the major industry of the town of Sandwich from 1825-1888. I spent some time looking around the museum and then caught a live glassblowing demonstration.

Here is a shot of the glassblower plying her trade at the museum's glassblowing demonstration: 

 I ran into a couple of my students waiting for the Knight Bus back to the parking area and chatted about possible endings for Deathly Hallows.

My last couple of stops that were part of Harry Potter Day were Titcomb's Bookshop and Lavender Moon.

Titcomb's is an adorable new/used bookstore with some incredible rare old books. They were a major sponsor of Harry Potter Days and they had a number of special events going on for the kids. I spent some time browsing the rare books and came away with a gorgeous little illustrated edition of Sir Walter Scott's The Talisman (not to be confused with the Stephen King/Peter Straub novel!). It's inscribed by someone named Alice MacKusick, and dated 1906. The only printed date on it is 1832 (!). Oh, and it was three bucks. Pretty spiffy.

Lavender Moon is the local new age/wiccan store. Beautiful shop, with psychic readings happening in an upstairs loft. I stopped in and took a look around, taking a moment to greet the store's cat, who looked quite contented with his job.

Harry Potter Day was a great start to my "24 Hours of Geekery" adventure that I'm doing as part of the 24-Hour Zine Challenge. From there it was off to get a bite to eat and do some shopping, followed by a Magic: The Gathering tournament at FIT Games in Dennisport.