In a rush before her first broom-dancing practice, Marlo Wilkinson decorated a long-handled duster as a broom, put a brim on a cornucopia to make a hat and became a fortified witch.
Since joining Witches & Whimsy, a new broom-dancing performance group in Antrim, Wilkinson embraced all things magic and fell in love with crafting again.
“This was all started out with vanity ’cause I wanted hats and brooms to go with all my outfits,” she said.
Now, motivated by her dance troop and tons of requests, Wilkinson has perfected the art of broom and hat making and sells her products online, hoping to expand.
“They’re also quite decorative, so if you’re not dancing, they just hang on the wall,” she said.
‘Felt crafty again’
For over two decades, Wilkinson worked at Crotched Mountain Resort and remembers being known as the go-to crafter. Interns and younger staff members flocked to her for her thrift-store wisdom and leftover craft scraps.
“I never had a lot of money, so I learned how to do a lot of things,” she said.
This past Christmas, she made each of her grandchildren a homemade jewelry box, decoupaging black-and-white family photos onto the boxes and adding a personal note to each.
Until her recent retirement from Crotched Mountain because of illness, Wilkinson had no time for art projects and often felt too tired to create. After her retirement, she was diagnosed with stage four kidney disease, which explained her exhaustion.
Something changed after she joined Witches & Whimsy and started crafting again.
“I’ve had time, and all of the sudden, I felt crafty again,” she said. “It’s been really fun.”
When she’s not practicing with her fellow witches, Wilkinson works on her brooms and hats, whether that means foraging on her property for natural elements, thrifting for items or designing the hats and brooms.
“I pick up bits and pieces. I love thrifting, so if I see a blouse or silk flowers or bells, anything I think I can use on a broom, I grab them,” she said.
She has no real method for her creativity. Wilkinson places the items she’s collected on her bed and matches them by color, theme or to go with a certain piece of clothing.
‘Awfully good time’
Mari Hyer Schacht, Wilkinson’s friend of 25 years, founded Witches & Whimsy in Antrim earlier this summer.
After years of traveling to Portsmouth to perform witch dances based on Wolfshäger Hexenbrüts, a traditional German folklore and dance troupe, Schacht decided to start her own group due to rising gas prices.
Over the years, despite Schacht’s attempts to persuade Wilkinson, she never joined the performance group for numerous reasons, but with a new group practicing a few miles away, Wilkinson couldn’t think of an excuse.
“I was like, ‘She’s talked about this for years. She has so much fun. I’m gonna try it,’” Wilkinson said.
Now, Wilkinson looks forward to their weekly practices and meet-ups. Plus, with each performance, more people ask her for a costume hat or broom.
“It’s the funniest thing. You get this little group of little old women that dress up and come dance, and we just have a good time, and the camaraderie is great,” she said.
Wilkinson noted that her movements are limited after both knees were replaced, but that doesn’t stop her.
“It gets me out to exercise,” she said. “We do an awfully good time at it.”
Witches & Whimsy has performed at the Antrim Home and Harvest Festival, for WMUR and has multiple shows lined up for nursing homes in the surrounding towns. Wilkinson even invited them to perform at a house party on her property this summer.
“People do laugh and giggle with us,” she said.
Their shows are interactive, allowing audience members to don a witch hat, grab a pool noodle and learn the dance.
For some of the members, it’s become a family affair.
“My grandson is our little warlock,” Wilkinson said. He often asks her, “Are we going witching today, Nana?”
Months ago, Wilkinson couldn’t have imagined spending her Tuesdays and Sundays practicing a witch dance and her free time designing and building brooms and hats, and yet here she is.
“I thought Mari was crazy these last few years,” she said. “And there I am shaking my butt.”
Future plans
Since Wilkinson is just starting out, she has lots of ideas and plans for a witch-themed business.
“I really want to do a much more natural-based thing, but that requires harvesting and drying, so as it progresses I really want to go more in that direction,” she said.
Additionally, she hopes to fix up her barn over the winter to create a studio space to make her products and possibly teach classes in the future. Luckily, she and her husband live on a commercial property for his welding business, which lets her build her business at home.
One thing is for certain: Wilkinson will keep dancing with a stylish hat and broom in hand.
To learn more about her work, email nanamarlosemail@gmail.com.