By TIFFANY RAZZANO and JUDY RATTNER
Three separate events in the village celebrated the seventh, and final, installment of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, which chronicles the trials and triumphs of the boy wizard and his friends. The series has enthralled both children and adults alike for the past decade.
On Friday, July 20, Happily Ever After on Long Beach Road and the Village Book Shoppe, on North Village Avenue held parties that culminated with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" going on sale at the stroke of midnight on Saturday, July 21. Later that morning, the library held a Harry Potter-themed party for fifth- and sixth-graders.
Mary Hope Friederman, who co-owns Happily Ever After with her sister Elizabeth Patton, said between 125 and 150 kids turned out for the celebration at their store. "Most were dressed in costume," she said. "They were great. I've never seen kids so excited. This was our third [Harry Potter party] and they could not get the book fast enough... [After the countdown to midnight] they were so loud, it was so exciting. They erupted when it went on sale. It was really fun. They were running out the door with the book. Some of them were reading it outside the store." They held a Harry Potter trivia contest and held a costumer contest amongst other games.
There has been much hysteria regarding this final book, as many wondered if good would triumph over evil, which beloved characters would die and who would end up together, amongst several other loose ends that were expected to be tied up in "Deathly Hallows." The book's publisher and author tried their best to keep its contents shrouded in mystery until the release date; but some copies of the book were accidentally sold early, with downloads of the books, and many spoilers, eventually making their way to the internet.
Even though the Rockville Centre Public Library received three cartons containing 29 copies of the book on Monday, July 16, none went into circulation until the morning of July 21. Library Director Maureen Chiofalo described what she characterized as "unusual" and "very dramatic" circumstances surrounding the book. The boxes were each sealed with a white sticker that read, in part, "Do not open before July 21, 2007."
"We were bound by that date even though we had the copies in the building," Chiofalo said. "All that was not unusual except that we had to sign off on a disclaimer that we would keep the new Potter books separate, and I had to sign a three-page sale policy indemnification agreement, from Scholastic, Inc., the American publisher."
