Wicked Witches take the plunge for Boys & Girls Club

LACONIA — In popular lore, witches and water don’t mix. At their polar plunge fundraiser just after the New Year, the Wicked Witches of the Lakes Region braved the big lake’s frigid temperatures at Weirs Beach. But, unlike ice in a December heat wave, the witches did not melt: the four sponsored swimmers raised more than $1,000 for the Boys & Girls Club of the Lakes Region.

The Wicked Witches is a club and dance troupe of about 40 locals who perform spooky choreography across the region, including at Old Home Days, nursing homes, schools and festivals. 

Kathy DeNutte of Belmont formed the Wicked Witches in 2021. After years of seeing videos online of German women learning and performing a “witch dance” in a flash mob-like fashion, she started learning the dances herself and inviting others to join. DeNutte, a self-identified hater of the cold, was a cheerleader for the four witches who did the polar plunge on New Year’s Day. 

In addition to fundraising, the witches spread their scary-good times across the region through performance and games, build community through the sisterhood of their witchery, get in great exercise through dance and just plain have fun.

“We just do it to have fun,” DeNutte said.

“And it’s great cardio.” 

Their performances include festive costumes and enchanting props, such as their smoking, bubbling cauldron. The Witches’ ages range from mid-20s to mid-60s. Many of them are teachers and nurses, DeNutte said. 

They’re learning more and more dances and gaining new members, she added. 

While the group began dabbling in fundraising this year, DeNutte said many members are becoming increasingly invested in such projects. It was member Mary Boden who connected the witches with the Boys & Girls Club. 

“Talking to Mary Boden of the Wicked Witches of the Lakes Region on the phone and hearing her story and what they did for our Lakes Region location made me smile and appreciate the wonderful community we are in even more," said Laura Tarbell, branch director of the Boys & Girls Club Lakes Region.

"It is what makes working for the Boys & Girls Club even more special because these fun and unique community members join together to help a cause that they believe in, and that they know help the community."

"The polar plunge and raffle money they raised is going toward a few families to help pay for a week of programming and toward items needed for our classroom renovations," Tarbell continued.

"Our program directors are hard at work redoing our main program rooms to make them nice and new and a place the members can be proud of going to, and the Wicked Witches of the Lakes Region has helped make that happen."

Events like polar plunges and other fundraisers from smaller clubs and organizations help spread creative generosity, kindness and positivity in the community, she said.

In the winter, the witches get busy rehearsing and learning new dances to prepare for their busiest season, which begins in mid-summer, DeNutte said — and they’re taking on new members.

For more information, find the Wicked Witches of the Lakes Region on Facebook.