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VIDEO: Witches float along Alouette River in Pitt Meadows

Women’s paddling group hosts an off-beat Halloween meet-up

A coven of floating witches, not on their brooms, but on paddleboards instead, were seen floating down the Alouette River, Tuesday.

Around 15 women, including a young girl, dressed up as witches, showed up for a Halloween-special meet-up organized by Brenda Norrie, founder of the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows based, Women Who Paddle group.

Norrie and a few others saw a similar idea “floating” around on social media and thought it would be fun to do an event locally. The women decided to meet up on Oct. 20, on the one sunny day through an otherwise wet, rainy week.

The witches met at the old Pitt Meadows Paddling club site at 14411 Harris Road, on the west side of the Silver Bridge.

“It’s a full moon too,” exclaimed one of the women, pointing to how everything with the good weather, the theme and the full moon had come together.

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Similar witchy paddling events have been held across the Lower Mainland and in Portland, where the idea first originated, according to some of the women attending the event.

From “this is such a great way to come together” to “what a fun idea, we should do more of these”, the participating women had a blast floating down in their full witchy attire.

“I started this group earlier this year because I had many friends that loved paddling but didn’t have anyone to adventure with. I wanted to provide an opportunity for women to meet, build relationships, explore new places and have some fun together,” said Norrie who also works with the Maple Ridge Community Foundation, and is the owner of a social enterprise.

While another Halloween paddling event is not in the cards, Norrie did say that something around Christmas, maybe in sit-in kayaks with blankets and hot cocoa, would be something she would love to put together.

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Priyanka Ketkar

About the Author: Priyanka Ketkar

Priyanka Ketkar has been a journalist since 2011 with extensive experience in community-driven news writing, feature writing, and editing.
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