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Keeping the magic going Ironton Wizardfest continues to be a popular draw to downtown each year STORY & PHOTOS BY HEATH HARRISON
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ronton Wizardfest is one of the county’s newest festivals and, since its inception in 2018, has quickly proven to be one of its most popular. Its return in November 2021, following a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, did not show any signs of slowing and organizer Brad Bear said ticket sales were some of the best yet. Bear said the idea for Wizardfest came when he was approached by Rick Jansen, of Ironton. “He wanted to have a festival to bring the community together and bring new people to Ironton,” Bear said. The idea to theme it around the Harry Potter novels of J.K Rowling allowed them to appeal to a diverse group of people, both children and adults, and gave them room to work in fall festival theme for its mid-November date. “Harry Potter was an interesting idea for a festival,” Bear said. “He got a hold of me, knowing I’m a Potter fan. And we brought in other folks from the community. That’s how it was born.” Bear stresses that, though he is one of the founders, he is not the sole organizer, and that the festival could not happen without its core group of nine organizers and more than 50 volunteers.
When planning the atmosphere of the event, Bear said he did not want to be “solely like a comic con, and I didn’t want it to be just a street festival.” He said, “We wanted an atmosphere where, you could walk in and it would feel like something different.” He said one thing they heavily considered in their planning was thinking of the sensory appeal of events of their youth. “Memories and nostalgia tied to smell and taste,” he said, noting the kettles in the streets for apple butter making. Bear points out that this brings in an Appalachian tradition, and the kettles lend themselves to the wizardry theme. “We wanted to bring in a lot of Appalachian culture elements and have a fall festival,” he said. And signs of this can be seen in the streets. “Broommaking is an Appalachian craft and trade,” he said, noting one of the vendors, while
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