Leaky Con 2018

This post is for all the Harry Potter fans like myself. Leaky Con is unofficially the largest Harry Potter Fan based convention in the world. It started out, to my surprise, in Boston about 9 years ago. In 2019 Leaky Con will be celebrating its 10 year anniversary. It started off as a small group of people wanting to explore and come together to meet other fans. This small group wanted to share their experiences they had with the series. To their surprise it exploded to be something so much bigger.

I started reading Harry Potter in the 8th grade in Mrs. Harris’ class. I will be honest when we read the first book I was in an “I’m too cool to read” phase and didn’t pay too much attention to it. It wasn’t until the second book is when I started to get into it. Before we read the 2nd book we had to write a paper on what we thought was going to happen. If you know about the books you know the first book ends with Harry’s family being terrified of him. I thought his living situation was going to be way better...I was wrong. I think writing that paper and seeing how off I was, really drew me into the books and made me pay attention. From there I was hooked! The first book I bought was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I still have the book till this day and it is literally holding on by a thread. The binding has about had it and the book is in two, but I still read it. I couldn’t even tell you how many times I have read through the series, to be honest.

Out of all the entertainment of the actual books, the style of writing really intrigued me. J.K. Rowling was able to write to where she painted a complete picture in my mind. This always inspired me to want to write and as I write this it kind of makes sense of why I fell in love with advertising. You paint a picture through your words and create this whole other world.

I could probably go on and on about my love for the books, but let’s get back on track about Leaky Con. Now I had always heard about it but I always thought that it was in London and let’s be honest I wasn’t going anytime soon. So when I heard it was coming to Dallas I had to do it. So when the first round of tickets came out, they were sold out within hours. So yeah...F*@$ my drag, right?! Leaky Con Tip #1 - get the tickets right away!

Well by some magical powers.... 😏 they had another round of tickets. So when they went on sale, my co-workers around me had talked about getting them. When I looked they only had a few 3-day passes and Friday and Sunday left. I talked to my mom and she decided to get me an early Christmas gift and said I could get one (Thanks mom and dad!). When I went back to get the tickets they only had Friday left so I went with it. So after 8 months of waiting Leaky Con arrived. At first, I didn’t have anyone to go with, but one of my friends had tickets for Friday as well. Leaky Con Tip #2 - Make sure you find someone to go with!

Now I always thought I was a huge fan of all things Harry Potter...I was definitely mistaken. The costumes some of these people were wearing were pure genius and I felt under dressed. Leaky Con Tip # 3 - Dress Up! This was my first type of convention ever so I was definitely not prepared. We were able to check in and decided to go to the Marketplace first. To see all of these people here celebrating one thing was very exciting. You had people of all ages, which really makes me feel good because some people at my job said they weren’t fans. Mainly because they said it was for an older crowd. We started on one side and decided to just go up and down the aisles that way we didn’t miss anything. We saw all sorts of merchandise from wands to the Pop Funko figures. Now I admit….I did the sorting and I can now say proudly that I am a Hufflepuff! I first stopped at this candle shop where they had Harry Potter themed scents. The lady explained to me that the scents were their interpretations of what each common room smelt like. Well obviously...Hufflepuff smelt the best and if you came to my home you would agree.

After that, we walked around some more to decide which panel we were going to see first. This was one of the harder parts...there were panels every hour but had like 10 to choose from so decisions had to be made. Leaky Con Tip # 4: if you ever go to a Leaky Con panel, get there early. They filled up so fast! We ended up going to this panel about Dumbledore. Leaky Con Tip # 5 - if you do go to a panel, make sure you are fully interested in it! We had a hard time focusing and decided to leave to go get lunch. After finishing off the rest of the Marketplace we decided on a Panel to go to...again...full.

Finally, we found a panel! We were about to go in when this father and son stopped us and told us it was not a good one and they left. We decided to go back to the Marketplace. There was an LGBT panel that I wanted to see but didn’t start for another hour. We continued to look around and my friend needed to buy some things for her kids. While walking around I ended up getting a Deathly Hallows shirt, which is pretty much amazing! She ended up buying a wand and it made me really want to get one. At the last minute, I caved and now am a proud wand owner. Leaky Con Tip # 6: If you want something from there, get it! By the time we were done, it was close to 4:00 and the panel were about to start. But I was exhausted and was ready to rest and decided it was time to go home.

I only had a few things that bothered me. I wish some of the vendors were a little more themed towards the books...like a sweet shop or maybe even a joke shop. The other thing that bothered me was they could have at least played music in the background. I think it would have given it just a little extra.

Even though our time at Leaky Con was short it was a fun experience overall. The next one in Dallas is a year from now and another one in Boston in October of 2019. I am definitely on the fence about going (breaking on Leaky Con Tip #1) next year. But if I do, I will definitely be going all out...new wand and all!