Straight out of the pages of Harry Potter, Quidditch is coming to Montgomery! | Arts & Culture

Calling All Muggles! Inaugural Quidditch Tournament and Festival to Be Held at Blount Cultural Park---Benefitting the MMFA and ASF

Montgomery, AL- Join the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and Alabama Shakespeare Festival in the Blount Cultural Park for an Inaugural Quidditch Tournament to be held Saturday, February 23 from 11 AM to 5 PM.  

Working in partnership, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts located in Montgomery’s Blount Cultural Park, are pleased to host Montgomery’s first Quidditch Tournament and Festival. The event has been organized to increase public awareness about the Blount Cultural Park, the charities, and to raise financial support for their programs.

Quidditch is a fictional sport created by British author J. K. Rowling for the Harry Potter series of novels. It is described as a rough, but very popular semi-contact sport, played by wizards and witches around the world. Matches are played between two teams of seven players riding flying broomsticks, using four balls and six elevated ring-shaped goals three on each side of the Quidditch field. In the Harry Potter universe, Quidditch holds a fervent following similar to the position that soccer holds as a globally popular sport.

The sport has been adapted under the name of Muggle Quidditch (or simply “Quidditch”) to the real world and its players are referred to as muggles. Since at least 2003, Harry Potter fans have played ball games resembling the Harry Potter sport. In the United States, teams from more than 200 colleges are affiliated with the International Quidditch Association and play tournaments.

The day will not only include a Quidditch Tournament, but also a festival. The festival offers a way for the local community to celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation that can be found in the organizations in the Blount Cultural Park. The day begins with a spectacular Opening Ceremony that will kick off a magical day. Attendees can stroll through Diagon Alley, a showplace where merchants and organizations are showcased in Harry Potter themed displays. Food and drink inspired by the books will also be available for purchase. Pick your favorite team tent in the team decoration contest, too!

The day’s activities will include…

•    Opening and Closing Ceremonies
•    Tournament of up to 40 teams
•    Festival and Diagon Alley
•    Live Music
•    Food and Drink


The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday Noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free and donations are welcome. For more information, call the MMFA at 334.240.4333 or visit the website at www.mmfa.org.

The MMFA, a department of the City of Montgomery, is supported by funds from the City of Montgomery and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts Association.  Programs are made possible, in part, by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
 

For more info on the Quidditch Tournament and Festival visit quidmontgomery.com. Registration for both vendors and teams is December 1, 2012 through February 1, 2013.

Information Source: Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts