This is What's the Deal Grosse Ile the podcast exploring the people places history and events that make Rocio unique. I'm your host, Ben foe. And just like that fall has arrived in Brazil. One day we had temperatures approaching 90 And the next a high of 65. I don't think I've ever seen such a dramatic change right on cue. With the falling leaves comes the busy time on the island. The Historical Society has their ghost town on October 1, and the high school homecoming brings our paint the town red event that takes over Macomb street on October 15. But what everyone is waiting all year for is on October 22, when the real witch wives of Grossie will hit the parade route. In 2020, Jenna mokslo spoke with me about how the group came to be and some of the plans they had in the middle of the pandemic. And I'll have a link to that episode in the in the show notes in case you haven't heard it yet. And now she's back to talk about this year's appearance and two more activities that they're using to help make Brazil and our downriver community, a great place to be. Well, it's so nice to talk with you again, Jenna. So how are the witches
are doing awesome. We're just finally getting ready for our sixth season, believe it or
not of the two years. That's crazy.
Six years, five of which I was involved, this will be my fourth season leading the group. So lots of big changes happening this year that everybody is looking forward to but practices kick off here next week, and we're getting excited.
Oh, that's awesome. So for anybody who hasn't heard or seen the real witch wives of Grosse Ile what's the general idea? What's the concept for the witches?
So the original concept was that a woman who lives in our community, Shelly Schmidt, he had seen this fun dance online that had originated in Germany for a festival they hosted over there every year for just kind of like a Halloween festival, I suppose of sorts. So she and 35 of her other closest girlfriends had all got together to learn this secret dance. And they showed up unannounced to the grocery aisle Halloween parade. And they were a massive hit. So much so that they decided to do it the next year, except when they did about 40. More girls wanted to join in on the fun and this group has grown exponentially since. So we go to the Halloween parade every year in Brazil and put together this dance and don't go down the parade route and then have an after party afterward where all of the kids who are trick or treating down Macomb can come take pictures with the witches and kind of get to know us a little bit better behind the dance. So we're going to expand on that a little bit more this year. But that's kind of been the history leading us up to that point.
That's awesome. And so that'll happen here. October 22 is the date right? 1030 the parade starts if the kids want to be in the parade that starts at the lineup, I think starts at 1015. That's definitely one of the big events for the witches. Are there any other big events that everybody shows up for?
In the past, we have done the masquerade party that the recreation department hosts and we used to put on a performance there. Um, instead of dancing down the parade route, we danced around a cauldron and did a really cool event that way. And that was something that the recreation department wanted to pay us to do. But instead we partnered with the music boosters and actually had them do a little drumline kickoff, and we donated that money back to the music boosters. So we have asked to do a lot of events like that. But there are so many events that our local downriver community have invited us to that we've had a really hard time picking and choosing. Number one, what makes the most sense, because we can't do every event. I mean, there have literally been dozens of, you know, organizations that have wanted us to come to a dance. And that's flattering. But you know, the scheduling aspect of it and figuring out, you know, we've got a group over 200 girls at this point. So to try to get people to and from these places, and to kind of have a good harmony, it's just a little bit convoluted. So what we're shifting toward now is actually just paying it forward type events that moving forward, we will be involved in in the future. So we've got two events planned this year so far. And I'll tell you more about those in a moment. But I think that moving forward, we're going to start having annual events that not only the witches will be involved in, but hopefully the community as well.
But you've also been involved in the island fest parade, right? We have
done that in the past two years, not as big of a turnout just generally because so many people are on vacations around that time of year COVID To be fair, but COVID happened as well. Yeah. And the other factor is Truth be told, it's just so dang hot. So many people 200 degrees, I can't do a three mile parade route. And I totally understand that too. So we have an involved in the island fest parade for two years. I'm not sure we're going to continue that moving forward just because it's been such a small turnout that I think that I would rather just put our focus elsewhere potentially but I'm not going to rule it out yet. So yes, the past two years, we have dressed as well.
Awesome. And of course, he gave us some foreshadowing to these two new events that are coming up in this next week here. So I hear there's what a Halloween costume drive.
So excited about the Halloween costume drive. There are two women that are a part of this group that have so many incredible ideas. Their names are Christine with Nikki and Suzy are MEAC. And they have kind of been my right hand girls this past year while I tried to grow this group into more of a giving back type, also environment. It's been fun to be involved in these parades Do not get me wrong, but this community has embraced us so much that we just so many of us have felt compelled to really give back. So an obvious way that we were thinking of is okay, a Halloween kids, we've got to do something with the kids to get them involved. And Susie had brought up this incredible idea of giving back to the foster children community. So many of these kids have never had Halloween costumes, or if they have they've been really worn down raggedy, their everyday clothes are oftentimes in trash bags. So to be able to give them the Halloween that so many of their classmates and friends get to have I think is a really cool opportunity. So we are partnering this year with the downriver foster closet, which is a local downriver organization that provides clothing and other basic needs for so many foster children in the system that don't have access to those things. And we're going to give them Halloween costumes. So that will be the first week of October October 1 through eighth we've got two separate Drop Box locations. One that bloom salon which is on Meridian road, and NBA Realty which is on Macomb street. So it'll be a great opportunity for growth Hill residents to be able to drop off brand new, unused Halloween costumes into one of those drop boxes for children of all ages and sizes, to be able to have their very own Halloween costume. And I will just leave the caveat. So many people have already asked me why do they have to be brand new costumes, there are so many gently used costumes out there that could absolutely use a great home, we are just asking that you consider donating those to your local thrift store. Because there are so many less fortunate families here who can only afford those gently used costumes, we would love for those families to be able to have the opportunity to use those gently used items. And we're asking for people in our community to reach in their pockets and hopefully get those brand new costumes to these foster children who so desperately needed number one, because maybe like I said, they've never had that brand new Halloween costume. But number two, the hope is that they can pass that costume on to their siblings as they grow up as well and kind of keep those in the family as they travel from hometown.
And I'm going to imagine that a brand new costume comes in a package so it won't get separated. So that's only a big piece of it, I'm sure.
Which is helpful because these costumes are actually going to be passed out at the Trump retreat event the week following through downriver foster closet. So that Trump retreat event will be for local foster children, and they'll be able to pick up their brand new Halloween costume and then take that costume and use it for the actual Halloween week while they trick or treat in their community. So that'd be nice for them. That's
phenomenal. And I'll include a link to that to that organization, too. I'm sure they need help in all sorts of ways. So
absolutely. They're actually looking for a lot of donations. Right now. They're looking to get into a new building. I guess they're having some problems with the building that they were in. So everything they have, they had free up and pass off. And they're actually not accepting many donations right now because of that, as far as clothing and things like that. So monetary donations are huge. And yeah, that'd be a great way to help them out. Absolutely.
Excellent. October 7, Halloween glow roll. That's a whole new thing, isn't it?
Yeah. And that was also the other gal I was telling you about Christine red lucky. She's part of the grisaille BiPAC Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. They do so much by way of helping us citizens here on gross yield, get around by bike by walking around anything that you see that involves a bike path, things like that they are 100% involved in that. So she had mentioned that there have been other organizations that have put on just a regular glow roll in the past. But the thoughts that combine that with Halloween and make it a fun, all ages event here for the island and get the witches involved in that was just kind of going to be the icebreaker into the community, getting the witches involved. So that is something that's totally brand new. And we're really excited about kind of playing around to see what other ways we can get the witches involved with outreach as far as not fundraising, but raising funds was how it was worded. Sure. So yeah, the glow role is going to be fun. We're meeting at the high school we got permission to use their parking lot and as long as you pre register so that you can sign all of the waivers, letting everyone involved know that you are responsible for your own actions and everything that comes involved with riding a bicycle at night. You're welcome to participate. So the plan is to put on your Halloween costume. Decorate your bicycles and all kinds of either neon or battery powered lights. See, things like that just make your bike glow so we can see you in the dark. Yeah, I'm gonna start that parade route, go right down grades drive up Macomb Street on the lit sidewalk pass, cut back across down Meridian and then back up across over to the high school. So it'll just be one big square, most of it's all lit up. But it'll still be nice to be able to dress up in our Halloween costumes and have the lit up glowing bikes and let all of you kind of go around on a safe path that way too. So we're not dealing with traffic or, you know, potholes or things like that.
Yeah, I would imagine that's going to have some that might have some, some people that spectate. Tried to spectate once, but the the old glow rolls would go, you know, from from like meridian, elementary school all the way up to like church, and go so far and they get off, they'd get out of schedule. So having this nice and compact, I think if someone wants to hang out at the, you know, near the post office or in that area, they'll definitely get a sight of those of everybody as they go by. So
I would say post office, VFW hall probably is a good place for people to camp out and check that out as well. It's going to be so fun that that was something that we had taken into consideration is so many times these routes are so long that like you said, they kind of fall behind schedule, everybody's not packed in really tightly. But with us being on the sidewalk route. And in that one nice compact square, it keeps it so that the little kids have an opportunity to ride to we're not going miles and miles of a bike route. But also allows parents the opportunity to kind of duck off in a safe space if kids are having a harder time to be able to just get right back to the high school and have a nice starting and stopping point. So that was all taken into consideration when we plan this route. I know that it's not for the average bicycle is something that's going to be hard and challenging. But this is geared to just be a fun, easy event. So
in the future, it'd be challenging just to go that slow.
Yes, that is very, yeah. But then on your lowest gear, and we'll make it a little more challenging that way. But yeah, we've talked about setting up in the future, maybe some pub crawls with, with the bikes or doing a longer, more challenging bike type event. So we'll just kind of see how this introductory event goes. But yeah, the hope is that this will become an annual event to kick off the Halloween season and can get bigger and bigger every year. So
I think everyone's cheering this on. So that's, that's fabulous.
Thank you
see. So then also, that leads us up to as far as the witches go, the the main event of this month, of course, is the Halloween parade. And, and that's, as we said, October 22. I'm going to guess that it's too late to join the witches for anybody that's interested for this year.
No, honestly, if you wanted to get signed up, you've got a few more days yet the first practice is not until that first Tuesday in October. So we're coming in. But if you wanted to get your full contact information, name, address phone number to real, which wives@gmail.com You're more than welcome to join. If you happen to miss the first couple of practices, that's no problem, we'll get you caught back up, we would just much rather that you get joined in now so that we can get you all caught up and up to speed. We do have a change. This year. In our practice schedule, we used to go for a full month of practices twice a week, it was great for people who had scheduling conflicts to have the flexibility of that many available practices. But what we ended up finding out was that the majority of people crammed in at the beginning and then it just kind of fell away to where it was too much. So we have a much more condensed practice schedule this year. So with that said, if you wanted to join, the prerequisite is that new witches must attend to all practices. So if you are interested, get a hold of us, we can get you over the practice schedule. If you happen to miss the first couple because of the date that this podcast comes out. We will potentially be hosting a couple of Saturday ketchup practices. So don't be discouraged. If you want to join us go ahead and shoot an email to real witch wives@gmail.com. And we'll get you squared
away. All right, are there any any expectations on what kind of witch costume you have?
No, that's what's so fun about this is so many of these people involved get so creative with their costumes and some people go spend crazy amounts of money in order them custom online and some of us myself included, just go thrift shopping and we find so many cool and unique pieces. As long as you've got a hat on your head and a broom in your hand. You're welcome to join. So that's kind of what's fun about it is seeing everybody's creative spirit come out and create their own costumes. That's
excellent. That's one of the things I admire is how well how welcoming the witch wives are so so do you have any advice on how best to see the witches during the parade? Are there any places where you definitely will stop and do the full routine? I'm thinking the Macy's you know the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. There those particular stops where they they go and they do their whole routine the bands all play their their songs and you may not Have you heard anywhere else on the route?
That's a great question. So normally we were having a problem in the past, I shouldn't say a problem, but we are at the mercy of the parade route. So whoever is in front of us, depending on where they are, we do have a loop of a song where at any given point, there's a 22nd gap. So you may see the start of the song, you may see end of the song, but at any given point, you should be seeing part of our dance routine. One problem we had in the past was that we would drop our brooms at a certain point in the dance. And that was holding things up quite a bit to where we would have to sprint ahead, and then somebody might miss part of that dance in between while we were sprinting and there was a gap in that song that is going to change this year, there is going to be a slight change in our dance, there's going to be a fun little music add in that you'd have to wait and see this year. But that should help people see more of our dance routine is the fact that those brooms are not going to be dropped, and we're going to keep it moving. So my best advice would be to try to be near the beginning of the parade route. So we come down Lyons drive right there on the corner, and then turn on to Macomb Street. We have all of our steam right there. We're going back to back as fast as we can. The longer down the parade route you get the closer to Kroger that you get the more tired we are and then we're we're trying to stretch out with the dances because we are exhausted. So if you want to see the best show get towards the beginning of the parade route. That is my best advice. All right.
And I will add in the the mistake I've made in the past is that I kept thinking that it was like the homecoming parade. And it went all the way to Kroger. And it doesn't it stops at the VFW. And so, yeah, so So you're you gotta you gotta get before that. So I think that means that means the post office isn't is the VFW right across from the post office. Close. Yeah, right in that area. So make sure that you're a little bit further east than than Kroger and CVS. And you'll have a better well, you'll have a shot at seeing it. If you're, if you're down by Kroger, you you're not going to see the parade. So much and the kids are all dispersed by then you want to see the kids. That's what the parades for, believe it or not. Yeah, so So that covers October, and all the busy things you've gotten then. But I know that you've got things planned, maybe generally as far as what lies ahead. So what what is the future for the witch wives, you know, put on that hat and do do some prognostication here.
So our hope is to be able to continue moving forward and getting more involved in our community, our community has held our hand and supported us so much. We went viral on the internet two years ago at the start of the pandemic. Yeah, we're up to over 6 million views on that video if you can, believe it or not. So ever since and especially businesses on the island have reached out offering help, you know, I just cannot tell you how many ways that our community has embraced us. And so we want to embrace our community back. So the plan moving forward is to not force anybody to join in but to take those witches that we'd like to be involved in this group outside of just the parade and put together a volunteer group that will be able to go to community events and be able to put on our wish shirts and as a group go help out at those different events. And then also host our own events similar to the Halloween costume drive and the Halloween glow rule. So we'll see what that looks like moving forward. But I can assure you that 2023 is going to be big for the witches and giving back to the community. So I will also say if you are a local downriver organization that would like the witches help, whether it's to have a small group come to a dance or to just come put on some gloves and get dirty, whatever we can do to help you please send any and all ideas to us at real watch webs@gmail.com I would love to take a look at it and see how we can help you because I really think that's going to be a big piece moving forward is it's not just going to be a Halloween dance group. It's going to be a group that really likes to give back. Yeah,
that's great. But you also mentioned the shirts and that just reminded me that that this year you had some some wonderful sweatshirts. I bought one for my wife. And she she put it on and now she's she feels guilty because she feels like she needs to join so she when she figures out her schedule and can get in there she'll she'll probably drain it probably next year. But tell me about shirts and is there a plan for a rerelease or new new version? Any anytime soon?
Yeah, so we partner we partner with Weldon apparel, which is owned by the same company as Island goods and therapy. Both Island businesses. Emily Wellman does that she's a good friend of mine. I have the idea to just put out shirts we've had people from the community asked us over and over again when we're going to sell some shirts and we finally went for it. I thought it was going to be a huge disaster to be honest, because so many people said that they would want shirts and you just never know what's going to happen. So we put the feeler out there and it was a massive success. We sold over 250 shirts
have been delivered Within two days,
I delivered them all myself by hand, believe it or not. 50 or so that had to go by USPS because we actually have people all over the country purchasing the shirts. There are people in Texas, there are people in Virginia, there are people in Florida. There are people in New York that are wearing our which wives of Grosse Ile shirts, which just blows my mind. But that's a testament to how viral we went to.
If you're somebody from Florida, who's listening to the show today, and you're wearing your your your shirt I want I want to see that because it can't be comfortable right now. It's still, it's still really hot down there in Texas. So,
yes, and if you're in Florida, it might keep you a little bit dry during this upcoming hurricane. That's right. Yeah, but, but that was a huge success. The goal in doing that was to be able to purchase a new speaker system for the witches to hang on to and years past, we have had some incredible volunteers that have offered up some speakers for us to use. But year after year, it's been different people with different speakers. And we just thought it would be a huge blessing to our group to have speakers that we can not only have for the parade, but to be able to practice with because at our practices, I've just been opening my car doors and blasting as loud as it can go from my car. So to be able to purchase these speakers, for us to have a much better program, I think was the next logical step. So yes, I am not going to exclude doing a short run moving forward, I think we'll probably have different shirts and different items and things that we can get creative with Emily Wellman on whether it's stickers or bumper stickers or fun little things like that. That's not just apparel, I definitely think that's something that you can count on moving forward. Probably not till 2023, to be honest, but be keeping an eye out for that. I think that's.
And then maybe next year, you'll have some Christmas stuff for us. Right?
Absolutely. Christmas parade. We'll see about that. Probably not till next year. But yeah, I think it could be quite like it, they were just involved in the island glow parade as well. Now,
I had mentioned earlier to how much I appreciate how, how welcoming the group is. And and I'm not going to talk about any specific things that that areas but but the group is so very welcoming. And I mentioned that my wife, she wants to be part of it, she's sort of hesitant to add one more thing, but but it's on the list. So I'm curious what you'd say to people who, who maybe want to get involved in this, or really, I think it would apply to almost any of the organizations, even the Kiwanis and rotary and all the other things.
I think it's really important for people who live in a community to reach out and get involved in some way, shape or form, simply because it gives you a much deeper sense of ownership. It's one thing to live in a place and pay taxes, but to really take ownership and feel like this is mine, and I'm doing something to help it. There's just something to be said about the love and the magic that's involved in that. And not only that, but the ability to make new friends and connections and to be able to have that sense of purpose of knowing that you're doing something good for the place that you live. There's just nothing else like it. So yes, if you wanted to join a social club, like the real which was whether you are a man or a woman, we welcome everybody to come and dance with us, which is in Warlock so like and and I can promise you that you will laugh, you will meet new people, and you will get a good workout in between. So if you're looking for something new to join, that's a great way to do it. But like the Kiwanis like so many of our other local organizations, like you mentioned, everybody is always looking for volunteers. There are a lot of people that like to participate in the events that these places put on, and that a lot of people that want to help with the events. So I would say look to your own personal interests and find what connects with you. If you love to garden there are so many gardening clubs around the island beautification communities and things like that, that are always looking for people to pull weeds, plant flowers, things like that to keep their island beautiful. If you are into fitness, like I said, recreation department, our group, there are so many ways that you can be fit, and be active. And also give back to your community. Just kind of look at your own personal interests and find the club nearby that you can get plugged into because there are so many and everybody needs help. So that would be my recommendation. And if you ever are looking for a way to get involved, you're not sure how I've sent my email address a couple of times, but I'd be happy to help you get plugged in and find an organization that would say you absolutely
Oh, that's awesome. And yeah, that's definitely definitely true. I think anything that helped us you know, connect and take some ownership of the places is definitely speaking of connecting to the place you know, we end every every episode with with something about a wish. And you haven't thought about this for a couple of years now. So what if you have a wish for grocery bill and the people that the island any of that? What is it?
It kind of ties into what we just said but I had written something down before we actually started this podcast and that was to to get more involved in our community. I think we've got so many people on this island that have such good hearts. And and I think that it's so important for us to do take that energy and pour it back into our community. I will be the first to admit that I think that our island gets a bad reputation. And I don't know why that is because there are so many incredible, generous, thoughtful that people that live on this island. And I think that we need to pour back into that community as much as we possibly can. It's been a tough couple of years for everybody. And I think especially for business owners, for organizations, and any way that you can give back just a little bit to keep our island thriving. You give an engine that that organization will take a mile, I promise you so please, please, please find a way to get involved if you need help. Like I said, please reach out really drives@gmail.com and we'll get you plugged in.
Excellent. Excellent. Well, it's been so great talking to you today. I really appreciate your energy and everything you've done to get things moving and and if anybody listens to the prior episode, and you've you've closed your your business, but but everything you did to help the businesses on the island and in the community is so very appreciated. And I'm just so glad that you're you're sticking in with everything and and it's so good to see you again today. So,
and you as well. I appreciate you having me on today.
If you haven't seen the video of the witches from 2020, where if you haven't heard the episode from back then check in the Episode Notes. I'm so glad that I've gotten to meet Jenna, she and all the witches do so much for a community, even when you may not realize that anything's being done. The notes have links to all the events I could find except for two that we're going to be talking about next week. What's the Deal? Grosse Ile is produced by fote Media Productions if you want to support the show, there's some ways to do that in the notes and on the website. What's the deal gi.com Thanks for listening to What's the Deal. Grosse Ile
