Harry Potter Fest Coming to Wisconsin, But is it a Scam?

Something you need to know about me: I'm a huge Harry Potter nerd. I know my house, I have all of the books, and my husband and I even traveled to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida for a portion of our honeymoon six years ago.

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So when I saw that a Harry Potter festival was going to be popping up next door in Wisconsin, I was immediately intrigued.

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Harry Potter Festival in Wisconsin

The first post I saw about it looked a little strange. It was shared in a Facebook group called History of Wisconsin. The post says:

The town of Jefferson, Wisconsin will host this year's Harry Potter Festival on October 20-22, so get out your wizard robes and plan to attend!

Along with the post is a photo of what appears to be a downtown area of Jefferson. Below isn't the actual picture used, but a photo from Google Maps of a downtown area in Jefferson, WI.

No photo on the event from the past (and it's happened in the past, we'll get to that), no photo of people in wizarding robes, just a generic picture of their downtown. That seemed weird to me, but it could be nothing.

I did a quick Google search for this event, however, and the fourth link that came up was a Reddit post that says, "Turns out this so called 'festival' in Jefferson was pretty much a scam."

Now I'm curious what the heck is going on.

👇 Keep scrolling for a peek at the new Harry Potter-themed land coming to Universal’s Epic Universe theme park this year. 👇

Is the Harry Potter Festival in Jefferson, WI a Scam?

From what I've seen from my research, this event happened back in 2017, and since I haven't seen anything about a Harry Potter Festival in Jefferson between then and this upcoming one, I'd say 2017 was the last time it was held.

However, it sounds like the 2017 festival didn't go well.

The Reddit post I found continues:

Hour long waits for the bus, hour long wait to see an inflatable dragon in a basement, hour long wait to go walk through a corn field (not even a maze, just a path). $25 per wristband got you pretty much nothing to do.

An article about the event from CBS 58 News in Milwaukee also mentions angry fans and writes, "Some Harry Potter fans are cursing their decision to attend last weekend's Harry Potter Festival USA in Jefferson, Wisconsin."

CBS 58 continues by saying that "organizers promised an immersive experience", but instead it seemed they weren't ready for the around 35,000 people that showed up.

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As I looked more into the supposed upcoming Harry Potter Festival, the only other information I could find for a 2025 event is from a website called Spooky Inc.

I thought maybe I had found the company behind the event, but it doesn't appear that way. Spooky Inc's site says that they are an "online gothic resource" with "listings of restaurants and shops and events, friendly to the community".

👇 Keep scrolling for a peek at the new Harry Potter-themed land coming to Universal’s Epic Universe theme park this year. 👇

Is There a Harry Potter Festival Coming to Jefferson, WI?

Other than Spooky Inc, the Facebook post, the Reddit post, and some news articles about the 2017 event, I don't see anything else about a Harry Potter Festival in Jefferson, WI, let alone one happening this year.

Could it be a scam? Maybe, but it's hard to say at the moment. Just be very wary of anything else you may see before purchasing tickets or anything like that.