A large crowd of aspiring wizards desceneded on Ironton over the past weekend.

It was all part of Wizardfest, a celebration of the 20th anniversary of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels.

The event was ambitious, spread over downtown and offered everything from vendors, live music, food, animal shows, art classes to Potter-themed activities.

The books have a hardcore following of readers and it was only natural that the festival drew a large crowd on Saturday.

We applaud the organizers of this event for the time and effort they put in to make it as ambitious as it was.

And the theme brought a nice variety to downtown events, drawing a different crowd from those who might attend something like Rally on the River.

It is nice to see that our city is offering something for people from all walks of life and we hope more diversity in local options will continue.

The first year of this event appears to have been a big success and we hope it will grow in years to come.