Cape Gazette ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31 - MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2014 103

BewitchingAnnual event celebrates 25 spooktacular years

SEA WITCH FESTIVAL

DAN COOK PHOTO

SEA WITCH HALLOWEEN & FIDDLERS FESTIVAL celebrated its silver anniversary Oct. 24-26 in Rehoboth Beach. Highlights of the 25th annual festival include the dog parade, a broom toss off the Boardwalk and the festival's signature event - the cos-tume parade on Rehoboth Avenue.

NICK ROTH PHOTODusty Lamb looks ready to take off in the pet parade Oct. 26.

RON MACARTHUR PHOTOHenry DeWitt, the Sand Piper of Rehoboth Beach, plays the pipes.

RON MACARTHUR PHOTOKara Corradino of Lancaster, Pa., sports the largest pirate hat at this year's event.

NICK ROTH PHOTOThe Empire can try to blend in with the crowd, but that stormtrooper helmet kind of stands out.

DAN COOK PHOTODonna West serves up steins from Ocean Wines & Spirits.

By Nick Rothnickroth@capegazette.com

The walking dead brought downtown Rehoboth Beach back to life, as zombies, ghosts and ghoulish creatures wan-dered the streets as part of the Sea Witch Festival Oct. 24-26.

Celebrating its silver anniversary, the event has never been more popular, festival founder Carol Everhart said.

“It was a jaw dropper,” said Everhart, president and CEO of the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Com-merce.

The event typically draws about 175,000 people over its three days, but, Everhart said, indications point to a sig-nificant increase this year. She said hotel occupancy rivaled Fourth of July weekend.

Sea Witch weekend's marquee event is the ever-growing costume parade. Set for the middle of the day, the parade draws thousands of people from near and far. Those who participate head east down Rehoboth Avenue to the Band-stand and back, with spectators lining the streets the entire way. One of those spectators at this year's event was Newark resident Paul Albright.

The oldest of five siblings has attended the parade with his family the last three years, and despite not participat-ing in parade, he still dresses up in costume – this year as Beetlejuice.

“I love the atmosphere,” he said. “And you get to see a lot of variety in people's costumes. It's a good opportunity for the kids to see a parade and be a part of the whole Hal-loween atmosphere.”

Creativity is always on display at Sea Witch, with many people building their costumes from scratch. Others, like the Fisher family from Lewes, take it a step further and build their own float. This year the Fishers constructed a piano and displayed it on a decorated platform for their son, Justin, who sang Elton John tunes the length of the parade route.

“I like playing for all the people, and seeing them enjoy it just makes my day,” said Justin, a student at the Cab Cal-loway School of the Arts in Wilmington.

The family spent about 40 hours building the float, then Justin recorded the drums, bass and backing keys and vo-cals. At the parade, he sang live.

It was just the latest creation from the Fishers, who in previous years have won awards for their various themes – Blue Man Group, KISS, Yellow Submarine. They won their eighth ribbon for this year's float.

“We don't do it for [the awards], but if we win a trophy it's a plus,” said Nikky Fisher, the matriarch of the family.

Everhart said Saturday saw one of the biggest increases in visitors, with 15,000 to 20,000 more people in town enjoying the parade, children's beach games, a broom-tossing contest and many other activities.

On Sunday, Arden Townsend traveled from Southampton, N.J., with her two dogs Daisy and Precious to compete in the dog parade. She said she often takes her pups to dog-related events in New Jersey, but this is the first time she'd been to Sea Witch. She and her husband decorated a stroller to look like a pirate ship, and named it The Scurvy Dawg.

“It took us a couple hours to get everything totally built,” she said.

Their hard work paid off as they caught the many specta-tors who lined the Boardwalk from the Henlopen Hotel to the Bandstand. They also impressed the judges and were named one of the parade winners.

Everhart said the event is thriving and continuing to grow. What started out as an eight-hour, $5,000 event in 1989, has grown to a three-day, $100,000 celebration of Halloween. She looks forward to producing a better event next year.

“Our job isn't to make [money] for the chamber; our job is to create something to bring people to town and give back to the community,” she said. “That's our goal, and we hit it this year.”

104 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31 - MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2014 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Cape Gazette

NICK ROTH PHOTOClowning For Joy clowns Phineas T. Happy aka Ron Steen and Specs aka Bill Martin entertain the crowd with bad pun Halloween jokes.

RON MACARTHUR PHOTODressed as a butterfly princess, Lisa Dalton of Wilmington is attending her first Sea Witch Festival.

RON MACARTHUR PHOTOA pack of young runners takes off with plastic swords in hand in one of several events for chil-dren.

DAN COOK PHOTORehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Carol Everhart was honored by the Sea Witch committee.

DAN COOK PHOTOHappy marriages last forever, as evidenced by this pair at the Sea Witch parade.

CHRIS FLOOD PHOTOThe Dewey Business Partnership hosted trick or treat. Jason Wilson of Ally Oop shows what hap-pens to ghoul Jesse Baylor of Millsboro, trying to take his candy.

NICK ROTH PHOTOThor aka Rune Walker relaxes with "Thorgies" Roxxie and Boomer. Thor and Thorgies were one of the judge's winners in the dog costume parade.

DAN COOK PHOTOTripp Dankowski, 2, was in a crabby mood at the parade.

Cape Gazette ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31 - MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2014 105

Lucy and Ricky, left, enter-tained Sea Witch visitors at two shows at the con-vention center Oct. 26.

NICK ROTH PHOTO

NICK ROTH PHOTOBatman villainess Harley Quinn stepped away from Gotham for a stroll in downtown Rehoboth.

RON MACARTHUR PHOTOIt wouldn’t be a Sea Witch Festival without the traditional broom toss on the beach.

DAN COOK PHOTOJust in time for Ghostbusters' 30th anniversary, the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man makes an appearance.

RON MACARTHUR PHOTOKillian Davis, 4, of Rehoboth Beach is ready to ride on the Boardwalk.

RON MACARTHUR PHOTOA large group of youngsters works to keep hoops moving on their hips.

RON MACARTHUR PHOTOBatwoman – Claire Nimmer of Lewes – keeps a watchful eye on Sea Witch festivities.

RON MACARTHUR PHOTONorman the Scooter Dog delights a large crowd along the Boardwalk to kick off the Sea Witch Festival Oct. 24.

More photos, video: capegazette.com »

106 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31 - MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2014 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Cape Gazette

NICK ROTH PHOTOLocals Josh Lofland and Erika Parlett dressed up with Tiva to create a farm-themed float.

RON MACARTHUR PHOTOReady to ride in the Tyke Bike Race on the Boardwalk is Bentley Page, 3, of Morrisville, Pa.

RON MACARTHUR PHOTOYoung cyclists are lined up and ready to take on the Boardwalk to kick off the Sea Witch Festival.

RON MACARTHUR PHOTOYoungsters try their best to roll beach balls along the shoreline.

DAN COOK PHOTOSuper Mario Bros., aka Juan Mar-quez, marches with the Cape Hen-lopen High School marching band during the Sea Witch parade.

DAN COOK PHOTORocky represented Oak Creek Wine & Spirits.

TJ REDEFER PHOTODowntown Rehoboth Beach saw big crowds on a near-perfect fall weekend for the 25th annual Sea Witch Festival.

NICK ROTH PHOTOLego Superman and the Jus-tice League were in atten-dance.

NICK ROTH PHOTODogs were on the heels of giant fire hydrant Cohen Davis, 15, of Seaford.

CHRIS FLOOD PHOTOIt wouldn't be an event in Dewey without some adult fun. The Star-board hosted a costumed beer pong contest, and Scott Rogers of Millsboro took full advantage of the opportunity to letter his inner diva shine.

CHRIS FLOOD PHOTOThe Jolly Witch (aka Christine D.L. Hastings of the Jolley Trolley) was more than happy to provide rides from Dewey to Rehoboth.

NICK ROTH PHOTOThe Funsters lead vocalist Sherman Ward goes for it dur-ing a show at the Bandstand.

NICK ROTH PHOTOJim Dolan played a popcorn ven-dor in the costume parade.