The annual Sandusky Witches Walk has for more than a decade grown from basically a mid-week pub crawl into an international event. Visitors from around the country and even as far away as New Zealand flock to Sandusky to support local businesses and raise money for charitable causes.
One night each October, Columbus Avenue bustles with broom-riders, entertainers and costumed parade-goers. It’s been that way for 12 years.
It’s now Year 13, and Columbus Avenue just happens to be under construction. Organizers had to adjust on the fly, and it wasn’t without some stress. Is 13 unlucky? Perhaps. But you also might say that shaking things up in the 13
th year is a happy Halloween coincidence.
“It’s very fitting,” says Cora Higgins, whose seasonal alter-ego is Supreme Witch IsaCora, who heads up the event. “It’s extra special that it’s the 13
th year. A lot of events like this sort of fizzle out, and ours has magically grown. Our cauldron is bubbling over.”
When it is: The Witches Walk is Saturday, Oct. 19. Things get underway with the walk at 5:30 p.m., and participants will start lining up at 5 p.m. behind the fountain at Schade-Mylander Plaza.
What’s new: Because of construction, the Jackson Street Pier will be the site of the main cauldron area, and the Walk will head toward, then around, the perimeter of the pier. The pavilion on the pier will also be the will-call center for tickets purchased online and for live entertainment throughout the evening.
“Most of the big elements of Witches Walk will be on the pier,” says Higgins, who by day is the Public Relations Director for Family Health Services. “However, because I want to make sure that our participants are able to get to our businesses, we are setting up seven witchy shuttle stops.”
The hop-on, hop-off shuttle service will be provided by 20-passenger buses that will continue to circle around the downtown area.
Why it’s important: Higgins organized the event under a 501 c(3) charitable organization trademark three years ago, and it has raised about $60,000 the past two years.
Each year, the group identifies two separate causes – one relating to the area’s youth and one to the area’s seniors. This year’s charities are the Kiwanis Club’s child literacy initiative and the Erie County Senior Center Meals on Wheels program.
New notoriety: Higgins said the annual witches dance, held immediately after the kick-off walk, has become known as the largest in the world. Because of that, the event has attracted quite a social media following, including a group in Salem, Mass. That group, Higgins says, wants to join forces and create a newer, even larger witches dance.
“And we absolutely want to do that because they’re the witch city,” Higgins says. “But tt’s really sort of exciting to us that our witches dance is larger than the witches dance in Salem, Massachusetts.”
How to get involved: The event is for those 18 and older, and tickets can be purchased online via the
Sandusky Witches Walk website. Tickets are available for in-person purchase at both
Shores & Islands Ohio locations.
The tickets also serve as raffle entries, which can be dropped at several cauldron locations around the downtown area. The winner of a $2,500 grand prize will be drawn at 10 p.m. You don’t have to participate to buy a ticket, but you do have to buy a ticket to participate in the walk, witches dance and costume contest.