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Voted #1 Radio Station in the Missoula Valley, Trail 1033's Official Podcast makes exclusive on-air interviews, performances, new music and interesting conversations available to you on demand.
Enjoy daily uploads following community interviews on the Morning Trail show with Robert Chase, occasional live performances from both new and landmark bands and artists. Check out the Lunchbox every weekday at Noon, as Mike Smith dishes up a great block of themed music, interviews and more. New music your thing? Every Tuesday 6PM-7PM, enjoy The New Show hosted and produced by Tommy Evans.
Catch so much more interesting and timely conversation and, of course, amazing music from Robert, Mike and Tommy - LIVE- on The Trail 1033FM in Missoula and around the world at trail1033.com every day from 6AM until 9PM.
See what we're up to at trail1033.com or give us a call at 406-721-6800
Mike Smith: Yeah, that's just the beginning.
My friends in the Trail studio today are telling me that there is a great version of that Donovan tune by Alanis Morissette.
I do have to tell you, this is Trail 103.3, KDTR-FM, Florence, Missoula. Who are my guests?
Mike Smith: Candice and Aubrey from the Zootown Witchwalk. Welcome!
Candice Rhea: Hi, Mike. Thanks for having us.
Aubrey Nilsen: Hello!
Mike Smith: I was going to have you give me your best cackle.
Aubrey Nilsen: Oh, I should have called my mom for that. She has the best cackle.
Candice Rhea: I got the—
[Laughter]
Aubrey Nilsen: Oh, right.
Mike Smith: Well, that's going to—
Aubrey Nilsen: I didn't warm up very much.
Mike Smith: Right, right.
So this is fun and exciting and inclusive, and we're going to run it down. Everybody's invited.
Candice Rhea: Everyone, yeah.
Mike Smith: Okay, so the Zootown Witchwalk. First of all, Aubrey, I just want to let everybody know who you are if they don't already know.
You operate the number-one-rated station. I'm just going to say it—in the last ratings—
Aubrey Nilsen: Yeah, your sister's station, 104.5, Zootown?
Mike Smith: That's me. That's what I do.
Aubrey Nilsen: And it's a hit station. It's a danceable station.
Mike Smith: It's so fun. It's where we go for Lady Gaga. It's where we go for Taylor Swift and all those pop bangers.
Aubrey Nilsen: But I can just move in.
Mike Smith: Yeah, I love it.
So if you're a Trailhead, I do not mind you listening to our sister station over there at 104.5. This is the Trail 103.3.
I'm Mike Smith, and it is great to have both Aubrey from our sister station and also somebody who gets into a lot of things out there in the community.
Aubrey Nilsen: Well, yeah, man. I really do try. I love this community. There's just so many incredibly wonderful, passionate people that are doing cool stuff, including my best friend.
Mike Smith: How long have you guys known each other?
Aubrey Nilsen: Well, Candice was my neighbor on South First, like 2013.
Mike Smith: 2013?
Candice Rhea: I moved in next door to you.
Aubrey Nilsen: Yeah, I moved in the middle of 2012. You moved in next door.
And then you had your little owl, and we just had Sunday brunches, and we just had this great neighbor friendship, and it's just grown and grown throughout the years.
Mike Smith: Cool.
I bet you've made a lot of friends with this endeavor, the Zootown Witchwalk.
Aubrey Nilsen: Oh, yeah.
Mike Smith: And this whole thing started out as—and it still is, but it's kind of grown—it started out as this fun thing to go do in the evening.
Aubrey Nilsen: Exactly.
Mike Smith: But first up, I'm just lucky enough to have a best friend like Candice.
Aubrey Nilsen: She's the kind of person who gets everyone to gather, hosts the best parties. She's just such a good community gatherer. She's just so good at that.
And so we have these gatherings towards the end of October, early November, and it was just so much fun. We'd get together, we'd have some great snacks and some drinks and some funky schmog, and go for a walk around the neighborhood.
And it was in the spirit of, you know, the sisterhood and defiance and just being ourselves.
So I'm just really grateful to have a bestie like Candice, who's brought me along for the fun, too.
Mike Smith: Candice, witches. That's a topic. Historical and fictional and all the different things. But you look at this as fun and friendship and a sisterhood and whatnot.
Candice Rhea: Yes. Community, fun, friendship, exchange of positive energy.
I mean, yeah, the first one we had was in 2021, and I don't even remember how we decided to do it in the beginning. Just chatting, or like, "We need to get our friends together."
It's been a minute, and I had just moved into my new house at the time, a suburb of Missoula, and so we decided to get some friends together and make some cocktails and take a little witchy walk around the neighborhood at sunset.
Just a little friendly mischief, but just cackling and people ringing—singing, being silly.
But we ultimately ended up having an adorable little family of three join us that lived nearby.
Aubrey Nilsen: Yeah.
Candice Rhea: And there was a cat that followed them as well.
Aubrey Nilsen: Yeah.
Mike Smith: I heard it. I was like, "Is this your cat?"
Candice Rhea: No, it followed us here.
Mike Smith: It just sounds like this is amazing.
Candice Rhea: Yeah.
Mike Smith: So you are encouraging folks to obviously dress up as your favorite witch, warlock, sorcerer, mystical being—
Aubrey Nilsen: Yeah.
Mike Smith: However, this is open-ended.
Aubrey Nilsen: Open-ended.
Candice Rhea: Yes.
Aubrey Nilsen: No, it's not up to me to tell anyone how they want to show up as. This is about just providing a space for community to gather and to have fun and to be our fabulous selves.
Mike Smith: It seems like a lot of folks have really—you've grown this thing. A lot of folks have really decided this is a fun thing to do.
Candice Rhea: It is. An annual event.
You know, and it's free. We just have this spot: meet us at the Quad X's, North End, six o'clock Sunday. Take a walk with us.
Aubrey Nilsen: Take a walk with us.
Candice Rhea: Yeah. A witchy takeover of downtown. Six o'clock begins at the Quad X's.
Aubrey Nilsen: Quad X's.
Candice Rhea: All genders, all ages, all spiritualities welcome.
Aubrey Nilsen: All of them welcome.
Candice Rhea: And that's really kind of what it's all about. Some room to breathe.
Mike Smith: Exactly. And say, you know, this is a fun party. Maybe there's a deeper meaning to some folks who walk. There are. And maybe it's a social outing, or maybe some mix.
Candice Rhea: Mm-hmm.
Aubrey Nilsen: And in that spirit of, like—we're talking about the spirit of sisterhood and defiance—and you can't just jump in any time in this, but when we did decide to take it downtown, we had a person who calls themselves Pastor Brandon come at us and made it this big thing and started just talking crazy.
Mike Smith: And was this person worried about—maybe they were really just fundamentalist, and so they had a worry about people's souls and looked at this as inappropriate?
Aubrey Nilsen: Okay.
Mike Smith: Yeah, I'm sure.
Aubrey Nilsen: Demonic accusation.
Mike Smith: Right. All right.
Aubrey Nilsen: All right.
Mike Smith: How about it?
Aubrey Nilsen: It was a lot.
And so we're like, okay, well, that person made it this big, big thing.
I mean, it brought in a lot more people to the Witchwalk because, like, okay, well, let's go hard then.
Mike Smith: Yeah, it's that thing where you tell a bunch of people not to do something, that's the best way to get them to do it.
Aubrey Nilsen: Yeah. People saw his rant and they were like, well, I guess we know what we're doing now.
Mike Smith: Exactly.
Well, looking at the event, it seems like maybe the focus could be elsewhere for an individual like that, but I like what I had read about that was that you welcomed that person.
Aubrey Nilsen: Exactly.
Candice Rhea: Hello.
Aubrey Nilsen: We did, 100%.
Candice Rhea: Yeah.
Mike Smith: And I think that's under this—that you have an, Aubrey, I know this is you because I've known you for all these years—but "be kind, everyone" is also kind of at the center of the Zootown Witchwalk?
Aubrey Nilsen: Yes. And we invited those, you know, in a sense, protesters to join us, and they did. And from what we know, there were no negative interactions.
It was all very positive, and we just waved and said, "Thanks for joining us. We couldn't have done it without you."
Candice Rhea: Couldn't have done it without you.
Aubrey Nilsen: "Be kind, everyone," and then also kind of look out for everyone. Make sure everyone is safe and, you know, maybe there's some mobility issues with some of the folks who come, and just help everybody. That's kind of the idea.
Candice Rhea: Yes. It's just like, show up as yourself, join us, gather. Let's go for a walk downtown in Missoula, down Higgins, go across Bear Tracks, we make our way back again, and we let people take it at their own pace.
You know, some folks have shown up on their horse.
Aubrey Nilsen: Yeah, of course. Yeah, why not?
Mike Smith: It is, you know, it's a free event.
Candice Rhea: It's just really our way of encouraging community and spreading joy and positivity and an opportunity to gather—and also, you know, collectively screaming at the void a little bit.
Mike Smith: Yeah, yeah.
Aubrey Nilsen: Yeah.
Mike Smith: You feel like there isn't a need for that?
Candice Rhea: There is.
Mike Smith: Yeah.
Aubrey Nilsen: There is definitely a need for that.
Mike Smith: Candice and Aubrey of the Zootown Witchwalk. Your hashtag, only bruises?
But of course, you said, you know, if somebody wants to arrive on a paddleboard, maybe a cool cruiser bike—
Aubrey Nilsen: Yeah, oh yeah.
Candice Rhea: A witchy cruiser.
Aubrey Nilsen: We've seen it all.
Candice Rhea: Yeah, of course. A family has come out, and just everyone is welcome.
Mike Smith: Who made your logo?
Candice Rhea: This is where—
Mike Smith: Right. It's so cool.
And there's Mount Sentinel with the M.
Candice Rhea: Yes.
Mike Smith: And then there's some flowers and mushrooms and whatnot. But then there's four witches on a broom.
Candice Rhea: Yes.
Mike Smith: Or the other witchy—you two, I recognize you.
Aubrey Nilsen: Yeah, four witches on a shop push broom.
Candice Rhea: Yeah, that was a photo shoot we did in my backyard last year for fun.
The folks on the broom in the front—there is our friend Taylor, who actually just got married.
Mike Smith: So congratulations to Taylor.
Candice Rhea: And then Aubrey is second there, and our friend Stacy, and then I'm on the back.
Mike Smith: Okay.
Aubrey Nilsen: Done with AI, but they'll be illustrator right there.
Mike Smith: That's a killer logo.
Candice Rhea: Yeah.
Mike Smith: You made all of your own posters. How are you getting the information out to everybody?
Candice Rhea: Mostly Facebook, Instagram.
Aubrey Nilsen: Instagram for sure.
Candice Rhea: Yeah, @ZootownWitchwalk is where people can keep up with regular updates.
Aubrey Nilsen: Yeah, that's a good space to follow.
Mike Smith: All right. So let's run it down. Walk on sidewalks, not in the streets.
Candice Rhea: No.
Mike Smith: Don't block any intersections or entrances to businesses. And again, be kind to everyone.
The route is at the Quad X's on Sunday at six o'clock.
Candice Rhea: Across Bear Tracks Bridge, partially down the Hip Strip and then back up the other side of Higgins.
Mike Smith: And there's an after-party at the Union Club.
Aubrey Nilsen: Yeah, shout-out Don and Cal and the folks at the Union. We love those folks.
We had the after-party at Monks for a few years, but because of accessibility concerns, we wanted to make it an ADA-accessible space.
So shout-out Sean at Monks. He was totally behind that transition.
Candice Rhea: Yeah.
Aubrey Nilsen: Thanks to John and Cal at the Union for hosting us.
We've had different DJs throughout the years, and Candice this year has booked entertainment for us to keep us dancing, to keep that celebration going.
Candice Rhea: Yeah, we've got three DJs at the after-party this year, and I want to shout out to all of them because they're all donating their services and time for this event, which is amazing.
We've got DJ Jake, Elska and Enzymes all planned for us that night.
Mike Smith: It's going to be awesome.
Candice Rhea: We've got ESA Tumble photographing for the walk. She might take some pictures at the after-party if she decides to join us.
And then, yeah, we also will have a ton of merch giveaways. Planetary Design donated a huge haul of customized official Zootown Witchwalk merchandise.
Aubrey Nilsen: Yeah, we're going to have some stainless steel can coozies—we call them the can coldies over there—stainless steel promo pints, and some camp cups with a sippy top on them.
Mike Smith: Nice.
Candice Rhea: Yeah, they're all engraved. Shout-out to Ian at Planetary Design for engraving every single unit.
Aubrey Nilsen: They're awesome. Can't wait to show everyone those.
Mike Smith: All right. The Zootown Witchwalk, coming up on Sunday at six o'clock, is free. There's no charge to attend.
And Aubrey, you're going to be doing a little bit of fundraising.
Aubrey Nilsen: Yeah, for sure. At the Union, if folks are moved to share, I would love to be setting up an area to get donations to Planned Parenthood of Montana and the Western Montana Community Center.
So we'll have some forms with QR codes and some opportunities for folks to give if they're able to.
Mike Smith: All right. Candice, first time on the Trail 103.3 is—
Candice Rhea: Yes.
Mike Smith: Thank you so much for coming in.
Candice Rhea: Thanks for inviting me.
Mike Smith: Do you have any parting thoughts, words of wisdom?
Candice Rhea: How?
Mike Smith: Maybe a short poem?
Candice Rhea: Oh, gosh, I haven't prepared any poetry. But gosh, yeah, I'm just so excited.
There's so many different community members that really came together and put in work to make this happen, and I really can't wait.
This is all just—this is our hobby. This is like just something we're doing somewhere.
Mike Smith: It worked.
Candice Rhea: Yeah.
Aubrey Nilsen: And shout-out also to the other incredible community witchy events. I think this Saturday before Halloween, there's the longstanding Hamilton Witches Bike Ride.
Mike Smith: Cool.
Aubrey Nilsen: There's also one in Darby. Frenchtown hosts a really fun Witch's Dance.
Candice Rhea: Yeah.
Mike Smith: I need to go to all of these things. That sounds so fun.
Aubrey Nilsen: I just say, hey, any of these other witch walks or witches' dances or whatnot—now that it's the season of the witch official, thanks for kicking it off.
Any of those folks want to get a hold of me, they certainly can.
Mike Smith: Yeah. For those, 406-604-1033, the Trail's text line, 406-604-1033.
But we are aiming towards the Zootown Witchwalk coming up on Sunday. Six o'clock gets underway at the Quad X's.
Candice Rhea: Yes.
Mike Smith: Thank you both so much.
Aubrey Nilsen: Thanks, everybody.
Candice Rhea: Just thanks so much for having me, Mike.
Mike Smith: Great to have you on here, Aubrey, and so nice to meet you, Candice.
Aubrey Nilsen: Best friend, Candice.
Candice Rhea: Nice to meet you, too.
[Music]