By Laura Bailey

The New England Carousel Museum was transformed into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as fans of all ages came to celebrate Harry Potter’s birthday.

“We had been doing princess parties since 2017 and we had done almost every princess. Last year we did superheroes, and we were looking for something different this year,” said Carousel Museum executive director Morgan Urgo.

“Someone had the idea at a staff meeting to do Harry Potter, and we all thought that sounded perfect,” she said and added how happy she was to see a great turnout of excited fans for the first-year event, which included a magic show.

Party festivities in honor of the boy who lived began with rides on the carousel. When they were finished riding their flying horses, kids journeyed to platform 9 ¾ and boarded the Hogwarts express upstairs to the ballroom.

Young witches and wizards donned their Hogwarts robes and were sorted into their houses by the Sorting Hat. Muggles joined the magical community to celebrate with food and drinks, and many answered Harry Potter trivia questions.

Muggles and wizards alike were captivated by a magic show with Tom O’Brien. The veteran magician performs around 250 shows a year and teaches magic throughout the state of Connecticut.

“I started doing magic when I was 7, and I like seeing everyone have fun. The kids ae really into the Harry Potter theme; they really dressed the part,” O’Brien said.

“I’ll be doing some walk-around magic at the tables now, and I’m looking forward to interacting with the kids and their parents.”

Party guests had the opportunity to partake in magical crafts, including designing their very own sword. The Slytherins particularly enjoyed decorating snakes, and the Hogwarts students had the chance to design their own owl.

Urgo said that the Harry Potter birthday celebration is the perfect fit for the museum.

“The kids love it, and a lot of the parents are really into Harry Potter as well. I like that this is multigenerational because the carousel is multigenerational.”

In the immortal words of Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot & Prongs — “mischief managed.”

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