HomeMy WebLinkAboutGoderich Signal Star, 2017-02-08, Page 22 Signal Star • Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Goderich Harry Potter festiva
Organizers call the response "insane"
and "amazing" after selling out of
almost 6000 tickets in five hours
Justine Alkema
Postmedia Network
On October 13-15, mug-
gles in Goderich will see
the town transform into a
wizarding world with
larger popularity than its
organizers -could have
imagined.
Harry Potter and the
Transfigured Town Festi-
val organizer Nathan
Swartz called the response
to the festival "insane':
Tickets for the 2017
event went up for sale
right after last year's festi-
val ended in October.
Between that time and
about a week ago, they
had sold around 350
tickets.
5792 tickets were up for
sale which is the number
on the front of the "Hog -
warts Express" train in the
famous story.
They thought around
6000 tickets was a good
number after checking the
Huron County Tourism
fact sheet which noted
other Goderich festivals
have been this large such
as the Celtic Roots
• Festival.
Swartz said that during
those initial three months
of ticket sales, he and his
work partner, 'Daryle
Henry, were excited every
time they sold a single one
of the 350 tickets.
"I'd be working at my
computer and my partner
Daryle Henry would be
working on his, and we
had this ongoing running
joke where every time we
saw a ticket sale come in,
we said, 'One more ticket
sold!' We thought maybe
in our wildest dreams we
might sell out just before
the event."
Then, on January 26,
they sold out of all 5792
tickets in just five hours.
"It was an amazing
experience," said Swartz.
Swartz said about two
hours into the rapid sell-
out, they were able to pin
down the likely source of
their success - an article
on Narcity.com/Toronto
called "This Ontario Town
will be Transformed into
_the Wizarding World of
Harry Potter" had gone
viral. That article is now at
over 150,000 shares on
social media.
"We're so glad he posted
that in so many ways," said
Swartz.
Many fans who heard
about festival too late
were unable to buy tickets
which went for $15-$20
each.
After those tickets sold
out, they received hun-
dreds of calls and emails
from disappointed fans.
They scrambled to
research any way to make
the festival include more
people.
"We thought, how can
we do this with parking
and accommodation as a
factor?" said Swartz. "We
got ahold of others who
had done events in Goder-
ich before and knocked on
every door we could think
of. Then we thought, let's
go for more; let's take
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another 2000 people."
More tickets were made
available on Tuesday, Jan-
uary 31 with 1000 for sale
at 9 a.m. and 1000 for sale
at 6 p.m.
However those were
gone in minutes and even
seconds to the dismay of
thousands of fans who
were ready on the hour to
snatch up the tickets.
Some fans complained
on the event's Facebook
page that there were not
enough measures taken
against bots and scalpers,
despite the purchase limit
of five tickets per buyer.
Swartz said they don't
know if bots swept up the
tickets or not.
"I don't know if we can
know," he said. "We've
inquired with Eventbrite
(where tickets were sold)
to see if and what if any
answers they can give."
However he did men-
tion it's possible that
demand for the event was
simply much greater than
the supply. Tickets for
popular concerts, for
example, sometimes sell-
out within seconds.
"The exciting thing is
that a fan fest in Goderich
can have the same prob-
lem as the Tragically Hip
and Adele. So in some
ways it's a good problem,
but at the same time if it is
bots and scalpers, that's so
annoying."
Local fans were in for a
pleasant surprise when
1000 more tickets went for
sale the morning of Fri-
day, February 3 at Cait's
Cafe in Goderich. While
those tickets gave locals
and exclusive opportunity
for tickets, those also sold
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A photo from last year's festival.
out within a number of
hours.
The event will more
than double the popula-
tion of Goderich. For that
reason, they may close the
entire Square to vehicles
during the event.
Swartz and Henry are
holding the festival as a
part of their a for -purpose
business called Dads And
Dragons which is referred
to on their website, dad-
sandragons.com, as a
"geek culture site".
A for -purpose business
is similar to a non-profit,
however they use funds to
cover their own salaries
and expenses, and the rest
of the money they raise
Photos by Darryl Coote/Goderich Sipal Star
goes to charity,
In this case, the festival
will support the Huron
Food Action Network
where Swartz used to work
and other causes that are
unannounced at this
point.
This is the second year
Dads And Dragons has put
on the festival. Last year,
however, the festival was
much smaller with only
1300 people in attendance
as it was the first year and
gained much less atten-
tion. They knew they
wanted to make it larger in
2017, but had no idea it
would become this large.
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