MUARI: Meet Up and Read In with Order of the Phoenix!

[heiditandy]

Press Release
HARRY POTTER FANS WORLDWIDE TO "MEETUP & READ-IN" IN HUNDREDS OF 
CITIES AND SMALL TOWNS TO CELEBRATE THE RELEASE "HARRY POTTER AND 
THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX"

For Immediate Release:

CONTACTS:

Myles Weissleder, for Meetup Inc. 
myles at ... 
+1.415.332.3205

B.K. DeLong, for MUARI.org 
press at ... 
+1.617.797.2472

New York, NY (May 27, 2003) - The Leaky Cauldron, a Harry Potter 
news site, in association with several other Harry Potter fan sites, 
announced today it has tapped the services of Meetup Inc. to 
organize celebrations for the much-anticipated release of "Harry 
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" in hundreds of small cities and 
towns spanning the globe.

The "Meet Up And Read In" effort (MUARI), aims to galvanize Harry 
Potter fans, offering thousands of kids of all ages an easy pipeline 
to a Potter party. By logging on to http://www.muari.org, those who 
want to take part in the event can find fans in their area, choose a 
location and come together for a face-to-face celebration in 
establishments in as many as 568 cities around the world.

Two global Harry Potter Meetup events are planned to coincide with 
the book release:

* The International Order of the Phoenix Release Party will commence 
Friday, Jun 20 @ 6:00PM, local time.

This Meetup is currently organizing globally at: 
http://orderphoenix.meetup.com

* The International Order of the Phoenix Read-In commences the next 
morning, Saturday, Jun 21 @ 12:00PM, local time.

This Meetup is currently organizing globally at: 
http://readorderphoenix.meetup.com

"The fan community has been waiting to celebrate this momentous 
event for three years," explained B.K. DeLong, Editor-in-Chief of 
The Leaky Cauldron. "We felt the only way to do it right was to do 
it together. The best and most efficient way to accomplish that was 
to align with Meetup.com and setup a central location where people 
can find out about events around the globe."

The Leaky Cauldron has unified the Harry Potter fan community 
before; in December 2002, with help from organizations, Web sites 
and fans around the world, the news site raised $24,000 to 
participate in a charity auction for a 93-word card written and 
signed by Rowling, containing clues to the plot of the upcoming 
Potter tome. While the card went to a American investor, all the 
money raised by the 2,000 fans who donated to The Leaky 
Cauldron's "Get a Clue" drive was sent to Book Aid International 
(http://www.bookaid.org), where it has helped to buy over 11,000 
books for libraries in developing countries.

"Meetup is very excited at the prospect of bringing local Meetups to 
Harry Potter fans around the world," said William Finkel, Outreach 
Manager for Meetup. "Meetup's mission is to unite people with a 
common interest, and there are few groups more dedicated or 
energetic than Harry Potter fans. We're glad to have the opportunity 
to provide this service for the millions of Harry Potter's Followers 
who have been waiting so long for the release of his 5th novel."

About Meetup
Meetup, Inc. creates global Meetup Days for most any topic. Meetups 
are real world, face-to-face get-togethers that take place in 568 
cities in 35 countries at local cafes, restaurants, bookstores, and 
other local establishments. Meetup's mission is to create local 
group gatherings and help stimulate local community. Since launching 
in June 2003, Meetup has become a grassroots phenomenon, with over 
300,000 people signed up for monthly Meetups on more than 1,100 
topics and interests. Meetup is non-partisan, based in New York 
City, and is privately held. Online at http://meetup.com.

About The Leaky Cauldron (Leaky, Inc.)
The Leaky Cauldron is a international, non-profit, Harry Potter-
themed Web site run by a handful of dedicated fans in their spare 
time under the guise of Leaky, Inc. a New York-based, not-for-profit 
corporation. The site's goal is to provide the Harry Potter fan 
community with the most recent and detailed news about the Harry 
Potter enterprise including books, movies and related merchandise. 
For more information, visit http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org.


posted by Heidi Tandy, Editor, The Leaky Cauldron