A shopping district in northwest Calgary will undergo a Harry Potter makeover on Sunday to celebrate the release of the eighth installment in J.K. Rowling’s popular series.
Kensington will transform into Diagon Alley on July 31, with 24 participating retailers working together to recreate the fictional wizarding shopping centre from the Harry Potter series.
Pages Bookstore, for example, will become Flourish and Blotts, a bookstore where Hogwarts students purchase their school books. Visitors to Pages will also be able to get a so-called Marauders’ Map to guide them to the other participating stores.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, released on Sunday, is a play written by Rowling with Jack Thorne and Jack Tiffany in which Harry is grown up with his own children off to Hogwarts.
Spokesperson Jamie Campbell from the Kensington BRZ said the event will feature everything from a costume contest and script reading to a Quidditch match and butter beer.
Campbell said just one day after creating the Facebook event page there were over 7,000 interested participants. Another 3,000 have indicated they are attending.
The event not only coincides with the release of the new book, but also J.K. Rowlings’ birthday.
BELOW: A complete list of retailers participating in the July 31 Harry Potter event