Double, bubble, toil and trouble — come Oct. 13 you won’t see any potions simmering on the Hudson River, but you may see a witch or two on a paddleboard.
In its fifth year, the Sleepy Hollow SUP (Stand-Up Paddleboarding) Witches Festival is a Halloween season can’t-miss in Westchester. During the event, stand-up paddleboarders don their most witchy wardrobe, grab their “brooms” (in this case, their paddles), climb onto their boards and float along the Hudson River for a wonderful water spectacle.
But there’s no pressure to paddleboard— according to event organizer Tara Scheller, everyone who attends is encouraged to participate in their own way. People who want to join in on in the festival fun, but don’t want to hit the water can be land witches.
“I want people to come dressed up,” she said. “When you put on a costume, I feel like it takes away some of the inhibitions, maybe. You get a little more playful, a little more childlike. And it’s really nice to see that in people.”
For Scheller, who owns and runs Rivertowns SUP & Yoga, that’s what the Witches Festival is all about: combining the enthusiasm paddleboarders have for their sport with people’s love of Halloween. It creates a sense of community, Scheller said.
Halloween 2024: Check out haunted houses, spooky scares in Hudson Valley
Witches on water: How the Sleepy Hollow Witches Festival got its start
According to the New York Times, these “witches on water” events occur as far away as Abu Dhabi, and the first may have been the Morro Bay witch paddle in California about a decade ago. Once Scheller learned about the paddles, she knew she had to start one in Sleepy Hollow.
The first informal SUP witches event in Westchester took place in 2019. Sixteen paddlers gathered to launch from Horan’s Landing in Sleepy Hollow.
The event was a hit, and it exploded from then on. The next year, the number of paddlers grew to 50.
By 2023, the paddle had already become the official SUP Witches Festival. Over 100 people registered to paddle last year before the festival was moved to its rain date due to poor weather conditions.
The festival has expanded so much in its five short years that it has outgrown its original location. Once at Horan’s Landing, the festival will be at Kingsland Point Park this year to accommodate all the vendors, food trucks, spectators and the more than 90 people currently registered to participate in the paddle parade.
Sleepy Hollow SUP Witches Fest not just any Halloween event
The Witches Festival isn’t your typical Halloween event. Where you might expect spooks and scares from a town as synonymous with Halloween as Sleepy Hollow, this festival is more about the joys that come from communing with water — and the whimsy of wearing a costume while doing it.
“It’s such a cool thing to put together the sense of paddleboarding and witches — which don’t typically go (together),” said Leanne Duke, a certified yoga instructor and paddler who became SUP certified through Scheller’s classes. “It’s not a natural, symbiotic relationship. But it just works.”
“It’s chaotic,” Duke continued as she reflected on what it’s like to participate in the festival’s paddle parade. “But when you get on the water, you kind of feel proud that you’re a paddleboarder.”
Her friend and fellow paddleboarder, Jessica Donoghue — also a certified yoga instructor who was SUP certified through Scheller’s classes — agreed.
“I think people who use movement as a part of what they do — yoga instructors, paddle boarders, kayakers — we’re more akin to play,” Donoghue said. “We love playing. And that’s what we’re doing when we’re here for the Witches (Festival). We’re playing, we’re dressing up, we’re having fun.”
From leaf peeping to pumpkins: Your guide to celebrating fall in the Hudson Valley
Halloween and stand-up paddleboarding come together in Westchester
Paddlers of all levels are invited to participate in the SUP Witches Festival. In fact, Scheller plans for it.
In previous years, Scheller said, a “staggered launch” was created to accommodate for different levels of paddling experience. She’s creating the same options for this year, called “zones,” that change depending on how much paddling the water witches want to do once the group launches from the beach at Kingsland Point Park.
Each zone is organized by difficulty, Scheller explained, and named accordingly: The “10-cent Broom Rental” is Zone One for beginners, the “I Drive Stick” Zone Two is for intermediate paddlers, and the third “Frequent Flyers” zone is for experienced paddlers.
“People can choose the zones based on the day,” Scheller continued. “If it’s really choppy,” she said, hypothetically, “I’m staying in Zone One.”
“Last year was like bumper boats,” Scheller said. “People were falling because they were bumping into each other. So, very comical.”
The Hudson River waters were choppy, even on the festival’s rain date. So all 64 paddlers stayed within the cove.
“People would cheer when people would stand,” Scheller said. “People would cheer when people would fall. People would cheer when they got back on the board. The sense of community, and the support from the community, it’s the best part.
“I love that,” Scheller continued. “Just seeing everyone having a good time and being supportive and coming together.”
What you need to know if you go to the SUP Witches Festival
When: 12 to 5 p.m., Sunday, October 13. (Rain date: Sunday, October 20.) Water witches (aka paddlers) should plan to arrive from 11 to 11:30 a.m. to unload equipment and check in.
Where: Kingsland Point Park, Tarrytown Light-Kingsland Point Path, Sleepy Hollow. (For GPS, use Kathryn Davis RiverWalk Center, 266 Palmer Ave, Sleepy Hollow.)
Cost: Free for land witches (people who are not paddleboarding). $30 participation fee for water witches who can bring their own paddleboard. (Paddleboard rentals are sold out.)
To be a water witch: Register at rivertownssupyoga.com/sup-witches-registration.
Costumes: Costumes are required for water witches. They are encouraged for land witches and all others.
Parking: Parking options near the venue will be limited. Walking and public transportation are strongly recommended. For public transportation, take Metro-North to the Philipse Manor stop, which is the station closest to Kingsland Point Park. Then walk from the train station to the center of the park (approximately 10 minutes).
For more information: Check out rivertownssupyoga.com/sup-witches-festival.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Halloween in Sleepy Hollow: SUP Witches Fest set to get wicked Oct. 13
EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email news@emeatribune.com Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel
