Jul 22, 2007 By Lori Ann Goodwin 3 min read

It was a sea of broomsticks, pointed witches hats and sorcerers’ robes at the Uniontown Mall Friday night for the official release of the seventh and last installment of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was released at 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning at Borders Express at the Uniontown Mall amid a sizeable crowd of Potter fans of all ages.

Michael Copeland, 19, of Brownsville said this was his first time at a release party and just likes the series in general.

“I’ve read all of the books at least four times,” he said.

Copeland said he registered to reserve a copy of the book a few weeks ago and arrived at the mall around 11 p.m. Friday.

His friend, Francine Kubina, 18, of Fayette City, said she came along to keep Copeland company, but is not a Harry Potter book fanatic.

“I do like the movies, though,” she said.

Jessica Wise, a Borders’ employee and Head Mistress at Saturday’s event, said that Borders had a pre-registration to reserve copies that ended a couple of weeks ago, and then those who were pre-registered were to come to the store on Saturday to get a colored bracelet that would tell them where they would be in line Friday night.

Rowling’s Harry Potter series tells the story of boy wizard Harry Potter and his magical schooling and good versus evil battles at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The first six books have collectively sold more than 325 million copies. There were to be 12 million copies of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” printed in the United States alone.

At a couple minutes to midnight, a thunderous roar could be heard as the first group of about 50 people was lined up to get their first glimpse of the book.

Wise added that the people who pre-registered for the book, received a 40 percent discount and paid $20.99 plus tax for the 759-page book. The book is selling regularly for $34.99.

Donna Beatty of Connellsville was there with several family members and nine grandchildren – Shannon, Mavrick, Trent, Joey, Casper, Patience, Dustin, Gwen and Beth – whose ages range from 3 years old to 11.

She said the kids had a lot of fun drawing Harry Potter pictures and getting fake Potter tattoos.

Two of her grandchildren won a coloring contest at the party and another two even got to move up in the line for winning another contest.

Shiela Leighty, Beatty’s daughter, said her kids not only have the books but have the movies as well.

“And, we watch them over and over and over,” she said laughing.

Shannon Beatty, 9, said she likes the Harry Potter books because he looks like her cousin, and Mavrick Welling said Harry Potter is just plain cool.

Steve Lukac, Borders’ manager, said the release party was very successful, and he was pleased to see everyone had a good time with the games and contests.

“That’s why we do it – for the kids, young and old,” he said.

Lukac said he could not disclose how many total books were reserved or officially sold at Borders during the release. All he could say was that they sold “quite a few” and that he was very tired Saturday afternoon.

“We were finished somewhere between 1:30 and 2 a.m.,” he said.