Cackling and smiling with their crooked costume teeth and bumpy noses, three good friends plan to live up Halloween to its fullest in Nanaimo.
Transforming into witches and turning heads with the magic of it.
“You make other people happy,” said Nanaimo resident Ora-Lee Babcock.
“As I was driving here, people were gawking. It’s wonderful,” she said.
“I like that, and the fun of being someone else for a little while,” said Babcock.
Meet Joanne Dobby, Ora-Lee Babcock and Carol Fornelli. They all met while working at Nanaimo’s hospital together.
“I am a cardiology technologist,” said Carol Fornelli.
“I’m a pharmacy technician,” said Babcock.
“And I’m a retired care aide,” said Joanne Debby.
The three agree the escape and magic of Halloween is just what the doctor ordered right now.
“So you have to make the best of it and do what you can that’s safe and still fun,” said Babcock.
“Extraordinary times,” said Fornelli.
They are three of the seven witches whose coven will cast a spooky sight in Departure Bay at 5 o’clock Saturday evening.
“Yes, every woman needs a coven,” said Babcock.
“So we’re going to be a coven out there in paddleboards and kayaks and canoes and even a rowboat,” said Fornelli.
The witches welcome an audience, hoping it will bring a smile to passersby and, just maybe, bewitch someone who isn’t in the spirit already.
Skye Ryan
