‘Fantastic Beasts’ kickoff event

The King County Library System will hold a kickoff event Sept. 1 to celebrate the fall season and a new program series featuring educational magic and wizardry, according to a media release.

The celebration is for those 11 years and older and includes a sorting ceremony as well as wand matching. Attendees will be sorted into the proper house — Horned Serpent, Pukwudgie, Thunderbird or Wampus.

The “Fantastic Beasts” sequel is set to release Nov. 16 and throughout the month of November, kids and adults will be able to earn points toward winning the House Cup by participating and/or volunteering in different hands-on activities.

The activities will be held at the Algona Pacific, Auburn, Black Diamond, Covington, Fairwood, Federal Way, Kent and Maple Valley libraries.

The Covington Library will host the kickoff event beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 1.

For more information and event listings, visit https://kcls.org/wizardry.

Backpacks for foster children

Local Allstate agents — Francesca Moceri (Maple Valley), Michael Collins (Renton) and Kristian Landon-Suson (Renton) gave out 1,00 free backpacks filled with school supplies at the Pacific Science Center Saturday.

The backpacks were given to underserved youth and foster children to help them prepare for the new school year.