Spirits soar at Sea Witch

There’s always something for everyone at the annual Sea Witch Festival, and this year was no different.

Hosted by the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce, the 35th annual event welcomed tens of thousands of people to the Cape Region over three days last weekend. By Thursday afternoon, traffic on Route 1 looked more like summer than late October.

Although Saturday’s costume parade is the main attraction, activities throughout Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach kept both residents and visitors busy and entertained. Whether trick-or-treating in Dewey, tossing witches’ brooms in Rehoboth or sauntering down the Boardwalk in the dog parade, people had their pick of festivities all weekend long.

Sea Witch is the brainchild and legacy of chamber CEO and President Carol Everhart. Following her recent retirement announcement, this was likely her final time running the event she created as a consultant in 1989. As she’s done every other year, Everhart led both the costume parade and the dog parade to ensure everything went off without a hitch. It won’t be a surprise if she makes another appearance in the future; if that day comes, hopefully it will be an enjoyable, stress-free visit.

Running parallel to the chamber’s premier event, the Dewey Business Partnership hosted a haunted bonfire and zombie beach spooktacular, complete with a DJ dance party that provided fun for all ages Friday night. By the looks of photos from the event, it was a success. 

Wicked Weekend also deserves a shout-out. While most of the festive focus is on Sea Witch, Milton’s annual family-friendly celebration continues to draw impressive crowds for a variety of Halloween activities. Along with ZombieFest, which moved to Hudson Fields this year, the Milton area is quickly making the spooky season its own.

From Rehoboth to Milton, the Cape Region has firmly cemented itself as a Halloween destination — one that blends community spirit, creativity and a whole lot of fun.