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.

We’re continuing to track the progress of the pumpkins that will be on display at The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze. The little gourds are starting to grow up and soon we’ll have more pictures to share. Visitors commonly ask the Blaze organizers where all these gourds come from. All of the pumpkins – thousands and thousands of pounds of pumpkins – come from the Wallkill View Farm in New Paltz, N.Y.

 

This family-owned and -operated farm is well worth a day trip, not only to check on the status of their pumpkins, but to take home a variety of tasty treats from the Wallkill View Farm Stand, which offers a bevy of fresh goods. Check out their Web site here.