Macon bartender brings community together through ‘Harry Potter’ readings on Facebook Live

Every night at midnight, Jamie Helms goes live on Facebook to read Harry Potter to friends, family and strangers looking for an escape for a few hours from reality.

Helms, a bartender in downtown Macon, is currently unemployed due to the impact of the new coronavirus and has used his nightly readings to stay connected while also helping those in need.

“It has been really really strange but in a good way. I know every time I hit the live button, people are going to be watching me. I am a performer. I am an entertainer. I love that,” Helms said. “That first night we ended up going around the world, having people from Australia and Canada I know drop in. We had over 3,000 views.”

What started out as a joke on Facebook has turned into a way for people to stay connected during the coronavirus but has also turned into a good cause. At the end of his first reading, people started asking about sending him tips.

From that point on people have donated each night and have allowed Helms to continue to support downtown businesses and recently fed an estimated 12 families in the Middle Georgia area through a secure food bank.

“People have given me enough to not have to worry and enough for me to give back,” Helms said. “Everything that they give to me is staying local… I didn’t think people would even want to listen, let alone give money and not just enough to feed me but also continue to support local businesses and local families.”

Since the first reading, Helms has raised over $500 in tips from reading. But Helms said the biggest impact for him personally hasn’t been the financial aspect but the emotional and social side of things.

The core group of readers that join the comment section each night has given him a renewed sense of community something that he has missed as a bartender.

Helms has lived in Middle Georgia his whole life but recently moved to downtown Macon after leaving his job at a bank to pick up bar tending and bar backing at Lazy Susan Tapas Bar and Reboot Retrocade and Bar.

“Macon has always been my city but I had no idea how much of a family dynamic there was to downtown,” Helms said. “When bars had to shut down and go curbside only, not only did we lose regulars which were a huge part of own mental stability and happiness, but we lost connection with each other.”

The nightly readings have turned into a bit of a virtual bar. People gather around their laptops, phones, tablets and even TVs with a drink of choice to banter in the comments and listen to Helms read the books. One of the things that makes Helms’ reading unique is his background in theater allows him to use different voices to bring his characters to life. It is one of the reasons that Lacey Albritton, a fellow Macon bartender and the person that pushed Helms to start the readings, says that she tunes in.

“I had previously listened in on a screenplay he had written and his voices on that were wonderful so I knew he could do this, entertain us and himself at the same time,” Albritton said. “I don’t think we as a community knew we needed something like this until we got it, having something to look forward to every day after dealing with homeschooling your child or battling for toilet paper.”

The basic layout for each reading is about two-to-three chapters a night. And before the shelter-in-place order, there was a guessing game of where he was in downtown Macon; it surprised Helms that people could identify quickly based on a wall or tree branch where he was reading.

Helms has finished the first three books in the series over Facebook Live. The comment section typically has between 300 and 500 comments per night. Helms takes time in between chapters to do a shot with his virtual bar mates and to read back through the comments. He said that the comment section has been such a welcome surprise.

“A lot of the cats in there are hysterical. A lot of them know each other, a lot of them don’t know each other,” Helms said. “There is this whole other subculture that happens in the comments… No one is pressuring them. I never say y’all talk amongst yourselves. It is not forced. It is very natural. It is very organic.”

The reach isn’t just within the Middle Georgia area either. One of those people is Shayla Fitzgerald, a Michigan native who is already planning a trip to meet her newfound friends in person once the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

Fitzgerald said that she found the group after Kate Clark of Macon shared it in one of her random Facebook groups on the first night that Helms read.

“It is kind of nice to just feel like you are hanging out with friends and bonding over a common interest,” Fitzgerald said. “I already feel so connected to everybody already. It would be nice to meet everyone in person.”

Helms reading has sparked others to start reading on their own Facebook pages. Helms said that it has been a humbling experience to see people take his idea and create a community that reads together. The readings range from beloved fairy tales to Norse mythology.

Meredith King has been reading through the “Chronicles of Narnia” series at night as well a daytime reading of “Inkheart.” She said that it has been cool to see the community grow with more people reading leading up to Helms’ midnight reading.

“It has been interesting that we can all do this as a group even when we are social distancing,” King said. “I have gotten to meet some new people and its like it own little community.”

Helms plans to finish the entire Harry Potter series, one that has been close to his heart since he was elementary school and was sometimes picked on for carrying around the books to recess while everyone else played.

The series has always held a special place in his heart and Helms is glad it has brought others joy during trying times.

“It was my idea but it kind of happened to me. This community continues to churn out its own light and its own goodness. I am just as much a long for the ride as everyone else is, if not more so,” Helms said. “Seeing people willing to go out of their way to contribute to something like this has shown me that Macon loves itself. Macon is going to take care of itself. If you love Macon, then Macon will love you back.”

This story was originally published April 8, 2020 at 7:00 AM.