Warner Bros. makes Pitman's Harry Potter festival disappear

PITMAN - Warner Bros. cast a vanishing spell — Evanesco! — on another Philadelphia-area Harry Potter-themed festival. 

Greater Pitman Chamber of Commerce revealed Tuesday it will no longer hold the magical festival honoring witches and wizards, despite changing the festival's name in attempt to avoid infringement on Warner Bros. Entertainment's copyright on the Harry Potter franchise. 

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Warner Bros. previously threatened legal action against Philadelphia's Chestnut Hill neighborhood if it continued its world-renowned Harry Potter Festival that drew more than 50,000 people at its peak. The Chestnut Hill Harry Potter Fest was renamed the Witches and Wizards Festival this year. 

Pitman, which launched its inaugural Pitman Potter Fest in 2017, tried the same tactic for the second year of its festival. The October 2018 festival was renamed The-Pitman-Festival-That-Must-Not-Be-Named, a play on Harry Potter's villain Voldemort, or, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. 

It didn't work. 

Warner Bros.' enforcement of its copyright and trademarks on Harry Potter and his wizarding world were much more strict than the borough anticipated, the Chamber of Commerce noted in a statement.

Notice from Warner Bros. came just before the Oct. 20 festival. The entertainment company "graciously allowed" the festival-not-to-be-named to go on under one condition — this would be Pitman's last Harry Potter-themed or inspired event, according to the chamber of commerce. 

"It is with deepest regrets that there will be no future Pitman Potter Festivals," the chamber's letter continued. 

"It is a rare gift as an adult to be given the chance to turn a fantasy world into a reality ... We will treasure these memories — ALWAYS."

Carly Q. Romalino; @carlyqromalino; 856-486-2476; cromalino@gannettnj.com