By Khalida Sarwari
Last year, there was enough candy flowing on Big Basin Way to satisfy the sweet tooth of nearly 400 visitors who descended upon Saratoga’s downtown for the city’s annual Witchy Walk-A-Bout. Once again, business owners in the Village are getting ready to stock up on the the treats for Halloween night, lest they get tricked.
As is the custom, children are invited to walk into any store or restaurant along Big Basin Way on Halloween day between the hours of 2 to 4 p.m. and request a treat. The city’s youth commission is also planning to offer face painting and temporary tattoo applications.
Similar to last year, just about every business will be participating in the festivities, said Jill Hunter, a former city councilwoman who heads the Saratoga Village Development Council, the group that sponsors and organizes the event every year.
Witchy Walk-A-Bout is Saratoga’s annual Halloween event for the community’s younger children. The event started more than a decade ago to bring children together and give them an opportunity to see other children’s costumes and go trick-or-treating during the day.
“It was the idea of Kristin [Ficovich] and John Marian and they turned it over to the SVDC about 10 years ago,” said Hunter. The couple are Saratoga residents who started the tradition about a dozen years ago as a way to get the city into the spirit of the holiday.
Aside from an opportunity to stuff their buckets and bags with all the M&M’s and Three Musketeers they can get their hands on, Witchy will also be an opportunity for kids and their parents to view pumpkins that were decorated by students at the Saratoga Elementary School. There are also scarecrows galore on the street–at last count, 45 of them, each a reflection of the business in front of which they’re standing. The scarecrows are the brainchild of Barn Owl owner Leslee Warwick, who was inspired by the city of Cambria’s popular scarecrow festival held annually to celebrate autumn and attract visitors to that city’s downtown.
There are few rules to participating in Witchy Walk-A-Bout; while costumes are encouraged, they aren’t mandatory, although participants are asked to bring their own bags to collect their candy.
Some of the businesses are looking for volunteers to help distribute candy. Anyone that’s interested is asked to contact Jill Hunter at 408.741.1213.
For more information about the SVDC, visit saratogavillage.info.
