I recently unearthed yet another video on YouTube featuring The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze 2006. This one is culled from a news report that appeared on RNN-TV, but it doesn't have any call letters or text, just the video feed. Nonetheless, it's worth a viewing just to catch a glimpse of the event's creative director sporting a fab (and fitting) shade of orange.

Enjoy!

What's the real history of Van Cortlandt Manor?

Way before the European settlers and way before the Native Americans - way, way before, in fact there were any people at all - dinosaurs ruled the earth and, presumably, the ground on which Van Cortlandt Manor now stands. Blaze Creative Director Michael Natiello plans to hearken back to that stone age in October with a brand-new, sure to delight display of "life-size" dinosaur skeletons. All, of course, made outta pumpkins.

Blaze Blogger caught up with Natiello today on his grand dino plan.

"It will be inspired by the landscape of the past and the creatures that lived here millions of years ago," said Natiello, "The Great Paleozoic Museum that was originally planned for Central Park in the late 19^th century, but never actually created, is also a source of inspiration."

He added, "It is my ambition to actualize Andrew Green and Benjamin Hawkins' original vision...only using jack o'lanterns to create what Andrew Green, in a letter inviting Hawkins to create the museum, called ‘a group of animals of the former periods of the American Continent."'

The dinosaur installation will feature the classic clash between T-rex and stegosaurus - depicting their exact skeletal structure - as well as some other (smaller) dinosaurs, flora, and fauna, all, of course, entirely made from pumpkins. (Shown here is Faith Butterfield, a seasoned carver, VCM interpreter, fashion designer, and seamstress, working on dino-bone carvings.)

Way, way cool if you ask me. This is a seriously ambitious installation. I hope he can pull it off...

What would a great Halloween extravaganza like The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze be without a great gift shop? Just that, a great Halloween extravaganza sorely lacking a great gift shop. We can't have that. Neither can the Blaze organizers.

Instead, the Powers o' Blaze are already planning an over the top presentation of merch that should satisfy (they hope) even the most die-hard pumpkin/Blaze/Halloween aficionado. 

I've just learned the Blaze Shop, the last stop on the tour after the path of pumpkins, is expanding in size this year. For my money, some of the coolest new items will be the ones that are 100% Blaze specific and available there and there only, such as t-shirts, caps, magnets, paperweights, and mugs, all adorned with Blaze imagery.

But the highlight, (which, quite frankly, I can't even believe they are offering) has to be art-pumpkins hand-carved ON SITE by local artists. That's just incredible. It's like taking home a piece of the actual event! And, because they are art-pumpkins ("funkins," as they're referred to in the pumpkin trade), they'll never rot. 

But wait, there's more! Matted and framed wood-cut Blaze prints, 3D pumpkin postcards, journals and postcards featuring carved pumpkins from Blaze, porcelain pumpkin plates, platters, tureens, pitchers, lanterns, teapots, glass pumpkin ornaments...

OK, my head is spinning. Perhaps something to eat will help. The Powers o' Blaze Shop thought of that as well. They are offering pumpkin and ginger cookies, pumpkin pancake mix, Jack O'Lantern cookies, creme pumpkin candies, pumpkin cobbler, and pumpkin shortbread cookies.

And of course, you can adorn yourself head to toe in glow and/or flash in the dark necklaces, bracelets, rings, pins, and earrings.

There will also be more than 50 books for all ages such as "Spooky Pumpkin" "The Truth about Jack O'Lanterns" (uh oh), and "The Fierce Yellow Pumpkin." (I need to get my hands on a copy of that last one to see what all the fierceness is about.) 

Many popular items from last year will make a guest appearance, including BlazeBlogger's personal favorite, the punching pumpkin pen, pictured here. 

Are they missing anything?

Historic Hudson Valley is by no means a tiny sprout of an operation, but staging an event like The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze poses manpower-related challenges. Imagine just the volume of scooping, lighting, re-scooping, and re-lighting alone! Blaze organizers tell me extra hands are essential and very much welcome. Last year, nearly 600(!) kind-hearted, pumpkin-loving souls — many representing local organizations and schools — donated precious time to the event.

Cheryl Bernstein of Van Cortlandt Manor told the Blaze Blog that Westchester ARC and local girl scout troops were particularly indispensable. “ARC was instrumental,” she said, “And if the Girl Scouts didn’t help, we wouldn’t have gotten it all done.”

Forty clients and five paid staff members of Westchester ARC spent six days helping scoop pumpkins for about five hours each day. That’s a lotta pulp and a lotta seeds. In addition, roughly 30 ARC volunteers were on site scooping at least two days each week before the event kicked off.

The Girl Scouts of Westchester Putnam were represented by 38 troops, who helped scoop and light pumpkins. Many brought siblings and parents to help.

Three troops from the Westchester-Putnam Council Boy Scouts scooped (as did two troops of Cub Scouts), and two troops helped light the pumpkins.

Thirty-five folks from Pace University helped light pumpkins for three hours over three nights. In addition, 15 people scooped for four hours over two days.

Students from several local schools pitched in. From Croton-Harmon High School, 15 students scooped and 20 students helped light pumpkins. From Ossining High School, 20 students scooped and 10 helped light. And from John Jay Middle School, 48 students, four teachers, and four parents helped light pumpkins.

Shown at left helping out last year are Katy Sackman, Caroline Acevedo, and Ellie Conti of John Jay Middle School, along with Nancy Errico of Van Cortlandt Manor (yes, she’s the one in the bonnet). The other image shows Ethan Cohen, Jake Wasik, Grant Gallagher, and Kyle Ogren, also of John Jay Middle School.

Other volunteers included Blaze devotees who were thrilled by the event in 2005 and wanted to lend a hand, friends of Van Cortlandt Manor employees, parents of children who had visited Van Cortlandt Manor for school programs, Historic Hudson Valley members, families of event sponsors, teachers attending Teachers Institute programs at Van Cortlandt Manor, staff from other Historic Hudson Valley sites, and people who saw a poster around town and couldn’t resist.

So what didit all add up to? There were 250 volunteers lighting pumpkins, 270 scooping pumpkins, and 60 volunteers working at the event in various roles.

Want to get involved with Blaze ’07? E-mail Cheryl Bernstein or call her at 914-271-8981, Ext. 10. Tell her BlazeBlogger sent ya…

I’ve just learned that the entrance tent for The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze will be significantly expanded this year and with have some cool new features, including – believe it or not – chandeliers made out of pumpkins. Now THAT sounds cool. The chandeliers are being designed by Michael Natiello, creative director for the Blaze.

The enlarged tent will help Blaze organizers with two goals this year. One is to provide full pumpkin ambiance well before visitors enter the illuminated path. And besides serving as a palette for clever pumpkin tricks, the tent will provide better circulation and access for the thousands of visitors who flock to Van Cortlandt Manor each night of the Blaze.

Better circulation is also leading to discussions about the area in front of the Manor House, which leads to the narrow “Long Walk.” As Gabe from Long Island points out in comments on an earlier entry , that area can bottleneck easily as visitors take pictures and gawk at the spectacle of the house lit with pumpkins, then funnel down the Long Walk. Blaze organizers are hoping a more defined path in front of the house will alleviate the issue. Got other suggestions? Let me know and I’ll pass them along.