Harry Potter festival planned for Bearsden is cancelled over safety fears
A statement from organisers says they have been "blown away" by the support but it has resulted in concerns about policing and licensing that will need to be addressed before it goes ahead at a later date.
Last updated 29th Mar 2017
A Harry Potter weekend planned for East Dunbartonshire this summer's been cancelled after too many people expressed an interest in going.
The theme for the annual Bearsden Festival at the end of June attracted thousands of likes on Facebook - with people from England, Ireland and the Netherlands interested in attending.
A statement from organisers says they have been "blown away" by the support but it has resulted in concerns about policing and licensing that will need to be addressed before it goes ahead at a later date.
Writing on Facebook, they said: "We have been blown away by the enthusiasm for our festival and we want to make it work but we now need much more time to do so and so we have taken the decision to cancel June 23-25th 2017.
"Because it has grown so big we have to sort out safety, parking, capacity and licensing implications and we will not have enough time to do that for this year but want to work on that for some time in the future.
"We are a very small group of five local folk so please understand this has taken on a life of its own which is bigger than we can manage."
"We hope you understand and we know many will be disappointed but after conversations with the police and our local council who have both been incredibly helpful and supportive, we believe this is the right course of action for us but watch this space for the future."
The festival was supposed to include themed food and drink outlets as well as wand workshops and a Quidditch tournament.
It would have celebrated the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter book's publication.