The skies were overcast and there was a definite chill in the air, but the weather did not dampen the spirits of the hundred or so witches who arrived at Thetis Lake on Saturday (Oct. 5) to paddle or kayak across the water for an early Halloween celebration.
“We saw other similar events taking place in Vancouver and we love Halloween, so we thought it would be fun to host our own event here in Victoria,” said Sarah Lavoie, one of the organizers of the ‘What’s Up’ Witches Paddle. “Two years ago, we decided to host our own event and that first year we had more than a hundred people show up.”
Lavoie, along with the event’s co-founder Divya Kapila, were on hand to welcome all the witchy participants at this year’s event but, sadly, had to admit that neither of them are actual practicing witches.
“We get asked that a lot,” said Kapila. “People come up to us and ask where our coven is, and we have to tell them that we run the event just because we love Halloween. I didn’t even know that there were real witches around.”
“We just love Halloween and we both love paddleboarding, so we thought ‘why not combine the two?’, said Lavoie. This is sort of the last paddle of the season, and it’s a lot of fun.”
And it seems that fun and a love of Halloween was the common theme for the day’s festivities.
Maxine Blatz arrived at the event, with her costume and kayak, ready to participate despite having to admit that she was not a true witch.
“It looked like a fun thing to do so, yeah, I figured why not start early,” she said.
When the witches all arrived and took to the water, more than a hundred similarly minded participants, all dressed in their witchiest attire had registered. There was no official word on how many were practicing witches, but Lavoie suspects that a few may have been in the group.
The event managed to have one decidedly non-witchy aspect. Kapila and Lavoie had hats for sale for any witches who forgot to bring theirs along. Proceeds are being sent on to the Goldstream Food Bank, in time for Thanksgiving.
That donation will be in cash, so no poison apples a la Snow White will be involved.
