Entries are still coming in for the Winter WonderLights YouTube contest. Anyone still working on a piece...the deadline is tonight at midnight for getting it uploaded to YouTube. So get cranking if you've been procastinating! The iPod touch you win will be your own! (Or something like that).

The judges will review the entries and declare the winners late next week.
You can't win if you don't...upload...

It took a while to get, but, here is the long-awaited image of Blaze guru Michael Natiello on the set with Martha Stewart and the collosal skeleton he carved during the Martha Stewart Show on Oct. 9. Unbelievable!

Got ideas for Blaze '09? Send 'em our way...

We open 2009 by saying goodbye to Winter WonderLights at Sunnyside, the newest creation from the Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze team.

It's gone for now, but certainly not forgotten, thanks to the magic of digital imaging. Yes, Virginia, there is a Winter WonderLights YouTube contest, and we've already get several entries. Still working on yours? There is still time! Get your footage edited and uploaded to YouTube by Friday and you are eligible to win an iPod touch, courtesy of WHUD.

Full rules are here.

We'll be reviewing the entries next week. Thanks to all who took part!

The New York Times published an excellent article about Winter WonderLights on Sunday, along with this stunning image by longtime Times photographer Alan Zale, who was kind enough to share it with us.

The article talks about the "enchanted, walkable winter forest" visitors will discover at Sunnyside, the homestead of Washington Irving and all the lights on display.

In an elaborate display of outdoor illumination, the first-ever Winter WonderLights will make use of tens of thousands of LED lights, two miles of electroluminescent wire, 1,500 feet of rope light, 571 theatrical lighting fixtures and 14.7 miles of electrical cable. In all, that's 68,965 individual points of light along a half-mile path.

Make sure you're not left in the dark this December. The illumination begins Thursday.

Seventy thousand points of light, miles of electroluminescent wire and cable, and funky, hand-made sculptures of candy, flowers, animals, and a guy you might have heard of named Rip Van Winkle. Oh yea, and cookies and cocoa. Lots and lots of cookies and cocoa. And did I mention it's all created by the Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze team. Interested? I thought so. Read on...

Winter WonderLights is the latest Historic Hudson Valley blockbuster event. It's a massive walk-through holiday lights display that will illuminate the woodlands at Washington Irving's Sunnyside starting Dec. 11.

What's the theme? Why, Rip Van Winkle's dreams of course, which means you will encounter Henry Hudson's men, an oversize candyland forest featuring - you guessed it - oversize candy, and giant DayGlo toadstools, among other fascinating finds.

Featuring nearly 70,000 points of light and scores of original sculpture, Winter WonderLights uses energy saving LED lighting technology and sculptures created on site form recycled and repurposed material, such as super cool life-size animals made from fallen limbs and twigs.

Wanna come see? Winter WonderLights takes place for 17 evenings, Dec. 11-14, 18-23, 26-30, and Jan. 2-3. The first reservation each evening is at 4:15. Click here for tickets.

HVBlog will be shining throughout December with lots of Winter WonderLights talk and images. More. To. Come.