I Never Touched the Witch

Saturday, November 1, 1986
The Concert Hall

GCDC Halloween dances were always popular. Prices increased starting with this dance to $8 for advanced tickets, $10 for door tickets, and $6 for after hours tickets. The net profit for the 1986 Halloween dance, I Never Touched the Witch, was $10,099.63. There is an audio recording of this dance, DJ-ed by Bob Harrison Drue, available here.

In 1986, GCDC organisers began to address accessibility concerns. The washroom behind the stage on the main floor of the Concert Hall was adapted to be accessible. Throughout 1986, there were also efforts to organise smoke-free dances, since smoking cigarettes was otherwise permitted indoors at GCDC dances. The GCDC Small Dance Committee organised a number of small, smoke-free dances at the 519 community centre. These efforts were short-lived, and already began to dwindle in 1987.

“We did try to branch out and do something different. We used the ballroom at the 519 for smoke-free dances. They were certainly much smaller, we barely broke even on them so I think maybe we got 100 to 150 people out for those, so certainly on a much smaller scale. But we did try to innovate; we did try to look for other opportunities to do things. But there was an expectation from the people who had gone to the dances that once they knew the formula then they anticipated that formula.”

- Ron Merko, GCDC DJ and Organiser