COLUMBUS, Ohio – The end is near – and Harry Potter fans plan to celebrate.

With the July 21 arrival of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” fast approaching, Columbus, Ohio, libraries and bookstores are planning magical events to greet the final book in J.K. Rowling’s enchanting series. Highlights will include midnight parties, trivia contests, costume contests and “Harry Potter” crafts.

Lindsay Mays, a junior in psychology, has been a “Potter” fan since eighth grade and plans to attend a release party with Harry’s trademark lightning bolt scar drawn across her forehead.

“There are so many crazy people there,” Mays said. “It’s really funny, people dress up in capes and bring brooms. There’s a good amount of little kids, but there’s a lot of grown-ups dressed like Harry Potter. It’s good people watching, it’s a lot of fun.”

“Deathly Hallows” is the seventh and final book in the wildly popular series. More than 325 million “Harry Potter” books have been sold. A fifth movie adaptation is expected this summer.

Barnes & Noble, the Ohio State Bookstore on North High Street, is planning a “Potter” party for the wee hours starting at 12:01 a.m. on the day of release.

General manager Louanne Harvey said staffing the party will not be a problem.

“I have some people that are really excited about it and have already volunteered to work that night,” Harvey said.

Customers who pre-order copies of “Deathly Hallows” can get them as soon as the doors open.

“If you didn’t pre-order you can buy it then,” Harvey said. “But you’ll be standing in a long line.”

As they’ve done for the last six releases, the Barnes & Noble at Easton will also celebrate the release of the latest book with an in-store bash, said Roxanne Martin, a spokeswoman for the store. Although “Deathly Hallows” won’t go on sale until midnight, Martin said the merriment, complete with “Potter”-themed stations throughout the store, is set to start at 9:30 p.m.

“In the past we’ve just sold thousands of books,” Martin said. “Once it goes on sale we have all the registers open and it goes very quickly. People dress up and we’ll have costume contests and snacks. Overall it’s kind of a festive atmosphere.”

“Over the years we’ve gained a whole new audience for the series and we’ve kept the kids who’ve started in third or fourth grade and have grown up and are in high school and college,” Martin said. “That is just the whole miracle or magic of the series – that she’s been able to grow the character and keep the interest of many different ages.”

Martin said the store always has a costume contest for the children and one for 15 year olds and older, as the average age of partygoers varies from “10 year olds to adults.”

“I think we’ll have higher attendance than ever before just because people will, out of sentimental reasons, just not want to miss something like that,” Martin said.

In years past, Martin said the Easton store gave away a copy of the new book to the costume contest winners. “Potter” tattoos and other small “Potter”-related items were also given away to participants at the activity stations.

Alexa Reck, a spokeswoman for the Barnes & Noble at Lennox, has also seen some outstanding costumes at the store’s midnight release parties — even the staff get in on the act, she said, dressing up as their favorite characters.

“Easily, the best costume I’ve ever seen was a man who came as the flying car (the main mode of transportation for the family of Ron Weasley, Harry’s friend),” Reck said. “The headlights on the car even worked.”

The Barnes & Noble at Lennox held release parties for the last two books in the series and plans to repeat the spectacle this summer. Reck said the enthusiasm for the series seems to build with each new book.

“We see whole families here,” she said. “Grandparents who come to hold a place in line for their kids and grandkids, college students dressed as a favorite character, little ones kept up well past their normal bedtime so their parents can get the book at midnight – literally, it seems there is no real age limit on reading these books.”

A Columbus library is also joining in on the release-day fun.

The Northern Lights Branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, located at 4093 Cleveland Ave., is hosting a “Harry Potter” release party July 21 at 1:30 p.m. “Potter” fans 6 and older are invited to celebrate the release with crafts and trivia.

“When one of these books comes out it’s always a huge deal and we’re certainly caught up with the fever,” said Stephen Lilly, a spokesman for the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

Anderson said there would be small prizes for the trivia contest, and she will also be giving away “Harry Potter” bookmarks.

This is the first “Harry Potter” release party for the Northern Lights Branch, where Anderson said the novels seem to magically fly off the shelves.

“We own a ton of copies of ‘Harry Potter,'” Anderson said, “…there’s some magic to ‘Harry Potter’ that makes kids be able to read a book. … At the moment, we’ve got a reserve list of over 1,700 people waiting for the (seventh) book. It will be a while after July 21 before we actually have ‘Deathly Hallows’ sitting on a shelf.”

Angela Badgley, a junior in Spanish, said she read the first four “Harry Potter” books in a three-day span and got hooked.

“Oh man, I don’t like it so much,” Badgley said of the series coming to a close. “I mean I want it to because I want to understand the rest of the mysteries, but there’s so much for (Rowling) to finish up I don’t know if she’ll be able to jam it in.”