Local Muggles ready for Harry Potter

Yuma Muggles (or nonwizard folk, for the uninitiated) were ready Tuesday for movie theaters to open their doors for the first glimpse of the new Harry Potter film. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth film in the bewitching popular franchise, opened with midnight screenings at the local Harkins and Main Street Cinemas theaters.

The seventh and final novel by author J.K. Rowling, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," is set for release in only 10 days.

This media convergence has created something of a Potter frenzy, locally and around the globe.

Krystal Taylor, 18, was one of the first people in line Tuesday evening for the Harry Potter premiere at Main Street Cinemas.

"I love Harry Potter. I've watched all the premieres here. I'm always first in line," Taylor said.

The bookstore chains Hastings and Barnes and Noble are also preparing for the novel's arrival on July 21.

Merchandise, like Bertie Bott 's Every Flavor Beans (candy), famous wizard cards and action figures, is thick on store shelves.

Both local locations will be holding midnight release parties, to celebrate the climax of the series.

"We 're actually going to have them do little classes and have the sorting ... do the whole Harry Potter thing," said Hastings' Assistant Manager Karen Mort. In the series, "the sorting" is when wizardry students are assigned to different houses within Hogwarts School of

Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The store on 4th Avenue has created a "Hall of Hogwarts" to display their Potter merchandise.

Barnes and Noble also has shelves set up with all the novels and the throng of product tie-ins Harry has spawned.

While the national chains are pushing more Potter merchandise, they are quick to point out that their main focus still is on the book. Worldwide sales of the first six books already top 325 million copies, and the first U.S. printing for ' 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ' ' will number 12 million copies.

The Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Ariz., is breaking up its Potter festivities into two days.

Its Midnight Launch Party will feature a local rock/alternative band as well as a fire-dancing troupe that dresses in Hogwarts uniforms. The next day, Changing Hands will provide face-painting, tea-leaf reading, lightning-bolt tattooing, magic wand-making and a reading of the first chapter of ' 'Deathly Hallows ' ' by a local stage actor.

' 'The thought of just hosting a fabulous 'goodbye and thank you ' party for a wonderful series is what we wanted the community to enjoy, ' ' said Yvette Roeder, Changing Hands ' public relations manager.

But despite all the Potter-mania over merchandise and parties, a local librarian said that the real magic of Harry Potter is in the way he's encouraged millions of children to open a book.

"It 's definitely made kids less afraid of big books. They really can enjoy reading a 750-page book," said Teresa Copeland, librarian for the Yuma County Library District. "It 's very much brought fantasy back into popularity. Which is funny because fantasy was very popular when I was a teenager."

Copeland said that, marketing aside, Harry Potter has been a success because the books are simply good reading.

"They 're good fantasy. She writes good solid plots with lots of foreshadowing with hints and clues, which is always fun ... She makes a lot of references to classic fairy tales," Copeland said.

The library isn't staying out of the celebration. They have their own all-night reading party planned for July 21. Copeland said she expects the teens who come to finish the books before morning - when every single copy will be borrowed.

All 15 "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" books the library is getting have already been reserved.

Copeland, a fan of the books herself, said she expects the last book to be as compelling as the first.

"It's a lot of fun to watch Harry grow up and change. He goes from being the very bright-eyed and awe-struck little boy to the very moody teenager he is the fifth book ... to the sixth book to a very strong hero who can stand on his own," she said. "Hopefully in the last book we 'll get to see the heroic Harry who will go out and save the world."

HOW WILL IT END?

Will Harry Potter survive to see the end of his epic series? Two local Potter-enthusiasts who make part of their living off books weighed in with differing opinions.

-"I think she's going to have to kill (Harry) off," said Karen Morts, the Hastings' assistant manager who is organizing the store's July 21 Harry Potter party. "If she doesn't, there's always going to be demand for another book ... I think he's going to have to go out with Lord Voldemort."

-"I don 't think Harry will die," said Yuma County librarian Terese Copeland. "I think Harry will be greatly changed by what happens, but I think he will be alive at the end."

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Sarah Reynolds can be reached at

sreynolds@yumasun.com or 539-6847. The Associated Press contributed to this report.