Bike ride brings candy, witches to Homewood

A coven of witches will be back in full force this Halloween, bringing fun and candy to Homewood for a good cause.

The 2021 Homewood Witches Ride is set for Oct. 24 at Central Park, with the park’s fall festival and food trucks beginning at 2 p.m. and going until 5 p.m. Check in and late registration begins at 4:30 p.m. and the “witches” will take flight at 5:45 p.m.

The event involves a 2.5-mile bike ride through the streets of Homewood where women dressed as witches ride bikes and throw candy to the kids along the sidewalks. Dads, grandparents and kids can post up along the route in the two candy zones.

All of the registration fees, donations and sponsorships go to the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital.

Witches Ride

WHERE: Central Park

WHEN: Oct. 24; fall festival and food trucks 2-5 p.m., Check in and late registration begins at 4:30 p.m., “witches” will take flight at 5:45 p.m.

WEB: facebook.com/homewoodwitchesride

The event started following the unexpected passing of Paula Stringfellow Ford from a rare, non-smoking form of lung cancer. Every fall, Ford would participate in a witches ride in Florida, and so after she died, her daughter, Janie Ford Mayer, contacted her (Mayer’s) best friend, Daphne Dickinson, and the two started a witches ride in Homewood.

The event has grown from more than 50 witches in its first year to more than 500 now, Dickinson said, and all monies have gone directly to rare cancer outcomes, Dickinson said. The event has raised more than $150,000 since its beginning.

Last year, the event was scaled down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with participants riding in small groups and raising money to donate on their own as well, Dickinson said, but the event is back to normal this year.

Search for the Homewood Witches Ride on Facebook and Instagram for more information.