After leaving the Crystal Ball festivities, The Whomping Willows and Justin Finch-Fletchley & the Sugar Quills head off toward the Oklahoma City Yule Ball, dubbed the Mistletoe Masquerade.

I talked with Erin, the Oklahoma Wizards League chapter organizer, about the ball. After Wrockstock, O.W.L morphed from merely a meet-up group to a chapter of the Harry Potter Alliance, and this ball is a fundraiser. Erin said, “This event is a prime example of what makes the HPA so amazing: the belief that nothing is too big or too far away for us to tackle. Of course we want to throw an awesome wizard party, but we wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t care about Darfur and what the HPA does. We started this chapter because we couldn’t stand not doing anything, and that’s what the Mistletoe Masquerade is all about.” The name came from their location, as mistletoe is actually the state flower of Oklahoma. Taken from their website:

“Once considered a parasite, mistletoe was recently recognized as a keystone species, an organism that has a disproportionately pervasive influence over its community…

…just like The Harry Potter Alliance aspires to be a keystone organization, having a pervasive influence for good over our communities and our world.

The dense evergreen witches’ brooms formed by the dwarf mistletoes of western North America also make excellent nesting locations for the Northern Spotted Owl…

…making mistletoe the natural choice for an O.W.L. emblem!”

The ball is not technically a masquerade, but to quote the website, “We like alliteration. We’re English nerds, after all.” Erin encourages you to “dress up, dress in robes, dress in costume. It’s all good with us. If you show up in jeans and a t-shirt, we aren’t going to turn you away. But we hope that a lot of people will wear robes or fancy dresses.”

It will be held in The Great Hall at Oklahoma City University (yes, it’s really called that!), which holds 200 people. Thanks to two sponsors, Sigma Tau Delta and the OCU English Department, the venue is free of charge. Tickets have been selling pretty steadily, so hopefully O.W.L. will be able to make a good sized donation to the HPA.

Now for what you really want to know – the lineup.

The Whomping Willows
Oliver Boyd & The Remembralls
The Remus Lupins
The Mudbloods
Justin Finch-Fletchley & The Sugar Quills
Catchlove
Tonks and the Aurors

With this collection of bands, I imagine many of you out there are trying to figure out exactly how long it would take you to drive to Oklahoma City. Is anyone driving the 22 hours from New York? The 16 from Michigan? What about the 29 from Seattle?