Hundreds of witches and warlocks took over the waters in Morro Bay on Saturday for their annual cackling cruise around the harbor.
The event, which encourages people to dress up in their most spell-binding costumes, ran from 2 to 4 p.m. and attracted hundreds of participants, most taking to the water on stand-up paddleboards and kayaks.
One of co-founders, Annette Ausseresses of Los Osos, said around 500 witches paddled this year with thousands of people viewing them from the shore.
“I think it was fantastic. It was a great turnout,” Ausseresses said of this year’s event. “The weather held up perfect. No wind and everybody was having a great time.”
Ausseresses said the paddle started about 12 years ago.
“So several of my friends have birthdays on or around Halloween. So we decided to do something for their birthday, and we didn’t know what,” she said. “And we dressed as witches and went for a paddle. The first year, we actually dressed as witches and went for a hike. And then the second year we all had paddleboards. So we decided to paddle and that was the genesis of it.”
Ausseresses said she’s seen the idea spread worldwide, to places like Utah, Abu Dhabi, Europe, Canada, Hawaii and Mexico.
“It’s so great that you can start something and it spreads, and it’s something that somebody so many people have pure joy in doing, like, out on the water. Everybody’s smiling, everybody on the shore watching us smiling. It’s so great.
The paddle benefits the Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo County.
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