Photo by Erin Nelson.
Witches toss candy to children from their bicycles during the ninth annual Homewood Witches Ride in October 2021. Proceeds from the event benefit the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB.
The 10th annual Witches Ride is returning to Homewood Central Park to raise money for cancer research.
The ride will be held on Sunday, Oct. 30, starting at 5 p.m., in partnership with O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The women who participate dress up as witches or other characters and toss candy to children during a 2.5-mile bike ride. Prior to the ride, there will be festivities at the park from 2 to 5 p.m.
Central Park will host live music from local performer DJ Sillz and the Homewood High School drumline, as well as inflatable houses and food trucks, among other festivities, said Janie Mayer, co-organizer of the Homewood Witches Ride.
The ride will end at Little Donkey, where the “witches” and their families will meet for an afterparty.
The Homewood Witches Ride was started in honor of Mayer’s mother, Paula Stringfellow Ford, who died from a rare type of non-smoking lung cancer only two weeks after she was diagnosed.
“She always used to ride in Florida with a group of ladies,” Mayer said. “They would dress up as witches on Halloween and ride to the school close to where they lived and hand out candy. It wasn’t a fundraiser, they just did it for fun.”
Her mother loved it, Ford said, because it gave her the chance to decorate her bike, “dress up crazy” and then hang out with her friends after they were done passing out candy.
Ford said she decided to do her own version of her mom’s ride in Homewood after talking about the idea with Daphne Dickinson, the other co-organizer.
She said they garnered a lot of support and participation from the community and have kept it going ever since.
Registration for the event is $40 starting Oct. 1.
For more information, go to uab.edu/homewoodwitchesride or visit the event page on Facebook @homewoodwitchesride.
