Sep 25, 2007
Historic Hudson Valley:
Halloween events start Oct. 5 with Blaze
|
The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze and Legend Weekend, Westchester’s biggest and grandest Halloween celebrations, are expanding this October. The Blaze will take place over 19 nights, including Halloween, and Legend Weekend will take place over five nights.
More than 4,000 individually hand-carved pumpkins will be lit up throughout the wooded walkways, orchards, and gardens of historic Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. New displays this year will include life-sized dinosaur skeletons and the “Dead Sea,” featuring schools of skeletal fish, a complement to the popular “Undersea Aquarium,” a dramatic display of ocean life. Other returning favorites include carvings of elaborate abstractions, mushrooms, and clowns, as well as new and improved snakes and a massive new spider web.
The event takes place Oct. 5-7, 11-14, 18-21, and 24-31. The first reservation each evening is at 6:30.
Sleepy Hollow Country’s classic Halloween extravaganza, Legend Weekend at Washington Irving’s Sunnyside in Tarrytown, N.Y., and Philipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., features a family-friendly daytime program and a spookier evening program. The daytime events take place at both sites on Oct. 27-28, 10-4 p.m. The evening events take place at Philipsburg Manor only, and on five nights: Oct. 19-20 and 26-28. The first reservation each evening is at 6.
Advance reservations are a MUST for both evening events and attendance is by timed ticket only. Tickets are available online at www.hudsonvalley.org. Historic Hudson Valley members attend for free but MUST have advanced reservations, which they can make online.
All events are held rain or shine and all are suitable for children. All proceeds support Historic Hudson Valley, the non-profit educational organization which owns and operates the historic sites and produces these events.
The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze
The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze is a Halloween spectacle integrating thousands of hand-carved pumpkins — everything from your standard Jack O’ Lantern to extremely elaborate abstract designs — lit up throughout the landscape of Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., in various thematic and conceptual arrangements.
Themed areas will include the giant Undersea Aquarium, the Dead Sea, life-sized dinosaurs, an enormous hillside spider web with baby spiders and a mother watching over them, still forming “pupa” Jacks in cocoons dangling from trees, Celtic knots, a ghostly “outer space” gallery, a circus arena with clown carvings, Dracula coffins, tombstones studded with half Jacks, a skeleton graveyard, African masks, and more.
The “Blaze Blog,” at www.hudsonvalley.org/blazeblog is chronicling all of the preparations and will serve as a clearinghouse of information for visitors and the media throughout the event.
Video-savvy visitors who attend during the first two weekends of Blaze are encouraged to enter the Blaze YouTube Video Contest by filming Blaze, editing their work, and uploading their video (three minutes or less) onto YouTube by Wednesday, Oct. 17, at 6 p.m. The creator of the published video that in the view of Historic Hudson Valley’s judges best achieves the contest goal of capturing the creativity and excitement of Blaze will win a 40-inch, flat-screen, plasma television, a DVD player, and a collection of DVDs of classic Halloween movies, all provided by K104.7 Radio. Full contest details and requirements are online at www.hudsonvalley.org.
Also new this year will be fog and professional lighting designed by Jay Woods. Visitors will also hear a spooky aural soundscape of original music and noises as they wander throughout the pumpkins, creating a complete all-senses immersion.
Describing the event as an art installation, Creative Director Michael Natiello, who also coordinates the music, said the true inspiration for Blaze is the landscape of Van Cortland Manor. Various arrangements and placements of pumpkins are meant to complement and draw attention to the site’s architecture, Revolutionary-era history, and landscape.
Natiello is leading a team of Historic Hudson Valley staff, volunteers, and local artists to help carve the pumpkins. Among the groups helping with the carving are Westchester ARC, dozens of Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops, Pace University students and faculty, and students from Croton and Ossining High Schools.
Those interested in taking a piece of Blaze home have a special opportunity. New this year, Blaze artists will be carving on site during the event, with the pumpkins available for purchase. In addition, The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze Shop will offer a full bounty of Blaze-related merchandise — more than 100 decorative pumpkin-related gift items including hats, notepads, T-shirts, magnets, caps, glass paperweights, mugs, and books.
Café Blazé, by Geordane’s of Irvington, will offer culinary treats including soup, veggie chili, muffins, pumpkin cookies, and cider.
A full FAQ about the event appears at www.hudsonvalley.org. Advance tickets are a must. Ticket prices for Blaze vary by evening: $14-16 for adults, $10-12 for ages 5-17, and free for children under five. Admission is by timed ticket only. Buy tickets online at www.hudsonvalley.org or by calling 914-631-8200 ($2 per ticket surcharge for phone orders).
Blaze Title Sponsor is Entergy Nuclear Northeast, Blaze Participating Sponsor is Union State Bank, and Blaze Media Sponsor is 100.7 WHUD.
Van Cortlandt Manor is at 525 South Riverside Avenue, just off Route 9 in Croton-on-Hudson.
Legend Weekend Nights
Legend Weekend Nights take place at Philipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow, which is transformed from a historic 18th-Century farm and gristmill to a ghostly, haunted arena, lit by candle lanterns and bonfires, with a colorful, creepy cast of characters straight out of Hudson Valley folklore roaming the grounds.
Visitors, who are encouraged to come in costume, can watch Washington Irving’s Headless Horseman take his fabled ride on a black steed. New this year, Emmy Award-winning lighting designer Deke Hazirjian of New York City Lites is using his skills to transform this classic event, giving it an entirely new look. (His credits include “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and MTV’s New Year’s Eve specials.)
Storyteller Jonathan Kruk will offer dramatic renditions of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and other tales of the supernatural.
The event will take place Oct. 19-20 and 26-28, with the first admission at 6.
Advance tickets are a must. Ticket prices for Legend Weekend Nights are $14 for adults, $10 for ages 5-17, and free for children under five. Admission is by timed ticket only. Buy tickets online at www.hudsonvalley.org or by calling 914-631-8200 ($2 per ticket surcharge for phone orders). Historic Hudson Valley members attend for free but MUST have advance reservations, which they may make online. Hitachi is the sponsor of Legend Weekend.
Philipsburg Manor is at 381 North Broadway (Route 9) in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.
Legend Weekend Days
Legend Weekend events taking place before the sun goes down are planned for the youngest revelers. Kids and their families are invited to come in costume to Washington Irving’s Sunnyside and Philipsburg Manor for Halloween fun on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 27-28, from 10-4.
Visitors to Washington Irving’s Sunnyside may enjoy games, mask-making, 19th-Century magic shows, music, Irish ghost stories, and puppets telling the tale of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Guided woodland walks, where participants will hear spooky tales such as Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker,” will also take place. Reservations are needed for the woodland walks (914-631-8200).
At Philipsburg Manor, activities for children will include pumpkin carving, corn shelling, and colonial-era games.
Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for senior citizens, $6 for ages 5-17. Children under five and Historic Hudson Valley members are admitted free. Advance reservations are not required for the daytime events.
Sunnyside is at 89 West Sunnyside Lane, off Route 9 in Tarrytown.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
|
