Arguably one of their biggest events of the year, Madison Social and Township held their annual Harry Potter bar crawl on Feb. 5.
Initially, Madison Social started hosting Harry Potter trivia nights back in 2014, and once they realized how large the turnout was, they knew they could host an event even larger. Thus, the Muggle Shuffle was born.
The bar crawl was first introduced back in 2016 and has been an annual tradition ever since.
“The event originally started back in 2016 as part of the Tallahassee Brew District that we created with Proof, GrassLands, Brass Tap and ourselves at Madison Social and Township,” said the bars’ director of Marketing, Eric Pounders. “After the Brew District dissolved, we decided to keep it going knowing that it had become an event people looked forward to every year.”
Pounders has been a part of the For The Table Hospitality group, owners of Township and Madison Social, for over seven years. Within his position, he has his fair share of experience with the Muggle Shuffle.
“The best part of the event is seeing the various costumes and outfits people wear at the event,” said Pounders. “You can see how much this series means to them and the excitement on their faces at check in makes all the stress worth it.”
Indeed, people are extravagant with their costumes. Many attendees dressed in wizard cloaks holding wands. Not only this, but attendees also get very passionate about their select Harry Potter house (myself included).
What makes the Muggle Shuffle so unique is that it is truly a bang-for-your-buck. This year, an event ticket was $30 which included four drinks, a house shot and a house T-shirt of your choosing. The check-in was at 6 p.m., and ended at 9 p.m. By 6:30, there was a line of “Muggles” wrapped around Township, waiting to start their Harry Potter journey.
At the entrance of Township, employees were checking in attendees, dividing them into sections based on their house of either Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Slytherin. The distribution of merchandise sets it apart from other bar crawls, but ultimately adds more stress onto the Township team.
“With four different shirts for the four different houses, it can be quite the ordeal of organizing the order, working with our vendor to give us the most amount of time to sell before having to put in the order to get the shirts in before the event begins,” said Pounders.
Despite the chaos, the Township and Madison Social staff are still in charge of crafting the signature Harry Potter house drinks, a task that has proven to be enjoyable. In order to concoct these specialties, the team looks toward the books and films for inspiration, using iconic names, scenes and places from the series to create a tasty cocktail. Each drink contained a different liquor, guaranteeing that the attendees weren’t bored by the selection.
Butterbeer was curated for Ravenclaws, made with rum, butterscotch liqueur, cream soda and Shiner Bock. Dragon’s Breath, a combination of Fireball and Ciderboys Apple Cider, was designated for Slytherins. Godric’s Gin Fizz, made of gin, pomegranate juice, orange zest, lemon and Fresca, was a specialty for the Gryffindors. For the Hufflepuffs, a Half-and-Half with Jameson Orange, fresh lemon, lemonade and sweet tea.
Both bars played different Harry Potter films throughout the night and had decorations scattered so attendees could truly immerse themselves into the Hogwarts universe. With the event being such a success yet again, we hope the tradition continues and more bars participate next year.