There are many ways for organizations to promote themselves, but only one group can do so with magic. Truman State’s Quidditch team, the Spellcasters, hosted a Yule Ball Saturday to try to gain more members.
Co-vice president freshman Anthony Tabacchi says the team has seen an increase in members since last semester when members started playing Quidditch on The Quad. Tabacchi says the club wanted a way to branch out to Truman’s campus. In this case — the “Harry Potter” equivalent to a prom.
“It’s a little less regal,” Tabacchi says. “We thought it was a more generic event, so we didn’t have to worry about the legal trouble that comes from doing some of the other things, but also it’s a good generic thing for people not interested in ‘Harry Potter’ to show up and participate and have a good time.”
In the “Harry Potter” series, the Yule Ball takes place in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” as a way for three magical schools — Hogwarts, the Durmstrang Institute and the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic — to socialize and get along during the Triwizard Tournament.
Tabacchi says the team has provisional status as it waits to become an official club. He said if there’s more interest and the team can get resources, the club might be official next year.
To help spread the word, Tabacchi says the team fundraised for the Yule Ball and raised enough money to rent out Kirk Gym. He said the team sold chocolate frogs — a dessert featured in “Harry Potter” — and cake balls on The Quad last week. He says he thinks the fundraising helped get the wordout about the team.
“I know when we were fundraising for it, a lot of people were like, ‘Oh my God, we have a Quidditch thing on campus? I totally want to join this,’” Tabacchi says. “They just didn’t know what was happening.”
Tabacchi says the team plans to host another Yule Ball next year.