Wizard Way of the Ozarks delayed until March 19th and 20th 2022

Dearest Wizards and Muggles,

If you had told us this time last year that we wouldn’t be having Wizard Way 2020 due to a global pandemic and that almost a year later in 2021 the pandemic would still be ongoing, cases still on the rise, with hundreds of thousands lives lost to it, it would have been unimaginable to us. The past year has been trying everyone; we have seen COVID-19 ravage families, communities, and of course industries near and dear to our hearts - front line workers, the service industry, and those in the live event industry (conventions, concerts, and live theatre) just to name a few. 

Naturally, we have been getting a lot of questions about if we are carrying on with our event this March. We’ve waited as long as we could to see if Wizard Way of the Ozarks could continue safely, but it is clear to us that our event cannot continue on as planned in March 2021. There are many reasons - COVID cases are higher than when we rescheduled in July 2020, strict regulations and policies have been put in place by the Arkansas Dept of Health as of January 1st 2021, more infectious virus variants are being discovered, and vaccinations not as widespread as we hoped at this point. Due to all of that, even if we could continue many parts of our event (such as escape rooms, the dance party, and game room) would have to be taken out altogether to abide by ADH rules. Furthermore, many of our entertainers, vendors, and volunteers have stated that they, in good faith, cannot participate until the vaccine is more widely available and they are able to receive it.

We have decided to postpone Wizard Way of the Ozarks until March 19th and 20th 2022. Outright cancelling isn’t an option for us - not only would it ensure we wouldn’t be able to do this event again in the future, it would admit defeat and deny the happiness that we and so many others get from being able to come together to share our fandom passions with one another. After much discussion, we feel this is the right choice for us to make, no matter how much it pains us. By the time that March 2022 rolls around it is our hope that most of the previously stated concerns will no longer apply and we can continue our event as we have in the past.

We ask that you permit us the same grace given from Dumbledore to the Golden Trio when they tried time after time to do the right thing while facing difficult decisions. The Head Wizards and Prefects of our little convention are so thankful for your patience and understanding thus far and hope you continue to realize we have everyone’s best interests at heart.

What about your tickets? We hope you will keep your tickets purchased in 2020 and 2021 and hang onto them with us. Our new dates are March 19th and 20th 2022. Your tickets will continue to be valid & honored when it is safe for us to carry on the convention. If that won’t work for you, please email us and we will help take care of you.

Lastly, we want something good to come from this while we are waiting for it to be safe. We’ve already gone a year without having the ability to sow positivity into our community in some way. That is why we have created a t-shirt to go towards benefitting food security in NWA. Using whatever we are able to raise, the Head Wizards and Prefects will fill as many Little Free Pantries in NWA with as much shelf stable food as we can. We hope you can participate, but if you can’t contribute we hope that you can utilize these resources for yourselves or your friends when we distribute the food. Check out the bonfire fundraiser here.

We will be back to proudly wearing our house colors, practicing spells, meeting new friends, and raising our wands before you know it.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

“What’s coming will come, and we’ll meet it when it does.” - Hagrid

Your friends in magic,
Staci, Summer, Katy, and Roland
Head Wizards on behalf of
Wizard Way of the Ozarks