With a birthday one day before Halloween, Pam Lemza-Putnam was destined to have a passion for the holiday. As a young girl, she remembers loving dressing up and participating in Port Henry’s Halloween parade on her birthday each year. It was the perfect celebration!
Fast forward a few decades and Pam’s joy for dressing up on Halloween had not waned. In 2020, she and her daughter Cody had discovered a group of women from Wolfshagen, in Harz Germany who dressed like witches and created a dance to Peter Fox’s song “Schuttel dienen Speck,” with translates to, “Shake Your Bacon”. Videos of the group went viral and became wildly popular internationally on the internet. Inspired by the video, Pam, Cody and their friend, Michelle decided to dress like witches and take some photos. After some creative editing by Cody, the pictures were posted on Facebook, along with the viral video of the Wolfshagen group’s dance. The photos were more popular than the trio expected, and a virtual chorus rang out wanting to join in on dressing in costume and asking to give the dance a try!
Come 2021, Pam had kept track of who was interested in joining in from the year before. They were added into the group and invited to Pam’s birthday party. Lo and behold on October 30th, a small group gathered dressed as witches to have fun and give the famous Wolfshagen dance a try! After many laughs and many tries, the group was able to video their first official dance. It was posted to Facebook, and became so popular that it was clear that and official group needed to be made. A Facebook group was created, and it became a place of sisterhood, sharing and camaraderie. Meanwhile, the dance was taking off regionally, with other like-minded groups being formed around the state.
In 2022, as excitement was starting to grow for Halloween, Pam was approached by the Ticonderoga Montcalm Street Partnership and the Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce and asked if the Adirondack Dancing Witches would consider being a part of their HalloweenFest celebration. It was proposed that the group would lead a parade down Montcalm during Downtown Business Trick-or-Treating, stopping multiple times to perform their dance. With excitement, Pam and the group took on the challenge. With more people than ever before in the group, multiple practices were set up. At each one, more laughter took place than dancing. On Halloween afternoon, 42 women and children gathered in the pocket park just outside Montcalm Street – comparing outfits and nerves. As the time came for their performance they took to Montcalm Street, formed three lines and it was show time! As the group made their way through the street the crowds that had gathered there cheered them on, enjoyed watching the dance, and took in each members’ personalized outfit. Phones were out as people clambered to take photos and videos of the ensemble. As they reached the end of the road, they all breathed a sigh of relief and then the laughter (and cackling) began!
2023 looks like it will be the biggest year yet for the Adirondack Dancing Witches. The Facebook group has reached nearly 400 people and knowing that only a fraction of that will show up for this year’s HalloweenFest parade, Pam is still confident that they will reach a record number. In anticipation of this, a number of practices have been scheduled. As the size of the group has grown the need for space has grown as well. This year, Gunnisons Lakeshore Orchards has generously offered space at their location.
Wanting to do more than just entertain, the group is adding service to the community this year. They will be raising funds and gathering donations for the local Food Pantry. Anyone who would like to can bring a donation to the Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce.
If you would like to catch the Adirondack Dancing Witches in action, they will be performing as part of Ticonderoga Area HalloweenFest’s Downtown Business Trick-or-Treating on Tuesday, October 31st at 4:30PM. To become a member of the group, you must request access to The Adirondack Dancing Witches Facebook page.
For a complete schedule of HalloweenFest activities or other events go to www.ticonderogany.com