HARTLAND, Wis. — Witches, wizards, and Muggles are welcome at a Hartland home where a family’s love of Harry Potter is helping support neighbors in need.
Laura and Alex Chandler’s annual Hogwarts in Hartland walk-through features the Hogwarts Express, the shops of Diagon Alley, and floating candles inspired by the Great Hall. Visitors can explore detailed displays while contributing food or money to the Hartland Area Food Pantry.
Watch this story in the video player below:
This is the Chandlers’ sixth year hosting the event, carrying on a tradition another local woman started.
“We are the quintessential millennials,” Laura said. “We went to the midnight premieres with friends.”
Preparations begin weeks before guests arrive. Laura focuses on the details, while Alex assembles displays and handles electronics, including train sounds, hidden speakers, and a fog machine that creates smoke for the train’s smokestack.
The rest of the family has roles, too. Laura’s brother plays Hagrid, their daughter Lillian helps visitors explore the greenhouse, and Laura’s mother serves butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks.
The nonalcoholic drink is made with cream soda and butterscotch syrup. In the greenhouse, Lillian introduces guests to a mandrake that shrieks when pulled from its pot.
“Sometimes I like asking people to pull up the mandrake,” Lillian said.
Admission is free, and donations are optional. Laura said visitors typically contribute enough food to fill the family’s minivan. All food and financial donations go directly to the pantry.
“We don’t keep anything,” she said.
For the Hartland Area Food Pantry, which serves about 80 to 100 families each month, the event provides one of its four biggest donations of the year.
Cheryl Gurlik, the pantry’s board secretary and a volunteer for 16 years, said the support arrives during a slowdown in donations between back-to-school giving and the holidays.
“This really fills in the gap,” Gurlik said. “Our shelves are starting to really get very low.”
She said canned vegetables and fruit were running particularly low, making the event’s contributions especially helpful.
During TMJ4’s visit, Landmark Credit Union also presented the pantry with a check. Financial contributions help the organization purchase food and necessities that are not consistently donated, including toothpaste, soap, and laundry detergent.
For the Chandlers, helping the pantry gives their annual tradition a purpose beyond the decorations.
“They get to enjoy this awesome event, and then we get to go give back on their behalf,” Laura said. “It’s pretty amazing.”
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
