Vernon got into the Halloween spirit Saturday, when Kalamalka Lake was covered head to foot in pointy hats and witchy costumes.
More than 100 people dressed up as witches and took part in a Halloween paddle at Kal Beach, enjoying beautiful fall weather Oct. 28.
Event organizer Ashley Reich was pleased with the turnout after the SUP Witches event she made on Facebook blew up.
“I had a whole bunch of people asking about if we were going to do one here,” said the creator of the popular SUP Okanagan Facebook page. “So I thought let’s just get one started, so I made an event and it just went viral, and here we are, so I’m very excited.”
For Reich, the event was a meeting between two of her passions: Halloween and paddleboarding.
“I myself am a huge Halloween fan, I just love it and I think it’s so important to get the community together as often as we can, especially for holidays like this,” she said. “Previously there have been paddles starting here on Kal Beach, but this year nobody really stepped up to do it so I thought I would do it myself.”
Reich goes paddling with her boyfriend, and any friends and family she can bring along, any chance she gets.
“That’s what we do, we spend almost all of our free time paddleboarding,” she said.
“I think paddleboarding is a must if you live in the Okanagan; you should definitely have a paddleboard,” Reich laughed. “It’s big here, the lakes are just beautiful.”
Reich says the plan is to create the event again next year, and the hope is it builds some more momentum and leads to even bigger turnouts in the future.
With clear skies and calm waters, Saturday was an ideal day on the lake.
“Let’s just hope nobody falls in.”
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