Suffering from some severe Peter Pan syndrome? Still mourning the end of the Harry Potter series? You’re in luck: Ballard is getting a so-called “wizard pub” in early 2019 — and it’ll be joined by a magic wand store, too.
Community news site My Ballard brought the news forward, noting that it’s owned by wooden stick carvers, ahem, wand-makers Piscataqua & Balch, the sort of people who replace the word “email” with the term “ether mail” on their website.
The as-yet-unnamed pub and store hybrid will take over the currently vacant Flatiron Building on Ballard Avenue, which the new owners purchased for a magical $2.4 million just last month. There’s little indication of what will be on offer, but a commenter on My Ballard who claims to be affiliated with the business says there will be “delicious cocktails” and “tasty bites”. It’s unclear what makes it a “wizard pub” and not a “witch pub” (the patriarchy, perhaps?), but in short, it’s a bar with a magic theme.
The wand-makers seem to have a not-totally-Eurocentric approach to their version of magic: in a video uncovered by My Ballard, one of them notes that “We are European wandmakers but we have synthesized our magics with native North American magics” — specifically, they name the Passamaquody tribe, who live in areas of Maine and New Brunswick, Canada.
As one commenter observed, this sounds suspiciously like white people lifting elements of American Indian mysticism for their own purposes (and note that in that video, the wand-makers self-identify as “European”).
In response, Solomon Balch, who appears to be affiliated with the bar, replied “We do not coopt practices though we believe that mythos, sensitively expressed, belongs to the world.”
Anyone looking to experience the, uh, magic for themselves will have to wait a while: it’s probably opening in early 2019.
- Wizard pub and wand shop coming to Old Ballard [MyBallard]
- Flatiron Building on Ballard Ave sells for $2.4m [MyBallard]