Witches Walk sparks controversy

The Witches Walk has been held in The Dalles every year since 2017, with the exception of 2020 when it was canceled during the pandemic. Participating downtown businesses stay open late, inviting event-goers to collect stamps in a special Witches Walk passport and enjoy snacks, drinks and special discounts.

Johna Ward (formerly Johna LaRoque) was one of the original founders of the Witches Walk and managed the event’s official Facebook page. She led the event with co-founder Amy Webber for the first three years, until personal circumstances led Webber to step aside from managing the event.

“Well, I kept it going,” Ward recalled in a Sept. 16 Facebook post. “For the last 6 years of The Walk, I did the work. I had fun, I worked hard, and it has become one of the best events here in The Dalles.”

Last year, Leslie Wilson, co-owner of Brick City and Games, offered to help. Ward and Wilson got along well at that time, and, in her Sept. 16 post, Ward said she had offered Wilson the chance to take over the event permanently should she ever leave The Dalles.

However, this year, Ward intended to run the Witches Walk as always. These plans came to a halt Sept. 10 when Ward received a letter informing her that “responsibility for the planning, coordination, administration and promotion” of the event would be transferred to Webber and Wilson, operating through a nonprofit the two had registered that day, called The Dalles Witches Walk.

The letter told Ward to turn over all donations, funds and other assets collected or received for the purpose of the Witches Walk, as well as administration of any event-related social media pages.

This letter was signed by four individuals: Wilson, Webber, and two top city officials: The Dalles’ City Manager Matthew Klebes and City Council President Tim McGlothlin (spelled McLothlin in the letter). The text of the letter claims that both city officials have agreed with the terms outlined within it.

But both Klebes and McGlothlin deny any involvement. According to Ward’s account on social media, Klebes reached out to her over email to assure her that no one from the City of The Dalles was involved in this communication.

“I want to be clear that I was not aware of that letter before it was sent, did not authorize or approve it, and it does not speak for me or the City of The Dalles,” he wrote, adding that event management decisions “are matters for the people involved with the event to work through together.”

McGlothlin took to Facebook — for the very first time — to debunk the claim that he was involved. “If you really knew me, you would know that I would not take drastic action without first speaking with the person face-to-face,” McGlothlin’s post noted. “I also would not send correspondence without my signature, and I would certainly spell my last name correctly.”

On Sept. 21, Wilson and Webber reached out to Ward over email to retract their claims that any city officials had been involved in the decision to ask her to step down. “The Sept. 10 letter was written based on information communicated to us that we understood, at the time, to be accurate,” they wrote. “We are not in a position to resolve the differing accounts of those communications.”

A few days later, Ward announced that she would not be involved in this year’s Witches Walk. But she made it clear the decision was hers to make. “I may be walking away, but I am not walking away because someone successfully took something from me. I’m walking away because I have decided to do so,” she stated in a Sept. 24 post.

Wilson later detailed to Uplift Local what she wanted to change. She said that in the past, businesses paid as much as $30 to participate; as a local business owner herself, she didn’t like this practice.

The event, held Oct. 17, was free to businesses this year. Wilson also did away with the physical event passports, which she said required businesses to dedicate staff time to filling them out. The 2026 Witches Walk passport will be digital.

In general, Wilson said, her changes were intended to make the event support downtown businesses without adding more work for them.