Legend Weekend, Sleepy Hollow’s classic Halloween event, begins Oct. 19

The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze continues through Oct. 31

SLEEPY HOLLOW, NY (October 11, 2007) — 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 featuring the Headless Horseman. The event is newly transformed this year thanks to an Emmy award-winning lighting designer.

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.

At Legend Weekend Nights, Philipsburg Manor is transformed from an 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 offers dramatic renditions of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and other tales of the supernatural.

The event is held 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 advanced reservations, which they can make online.

Legend Weekend Daytime events are ideal for young children. 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 can enjoy games, mask-making, 19th-century magic shows, music, Irish ghost stories, children’s book raffles, and puppets telling the tale of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Guided woodland walks, where participants can 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, children can take part in 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.

Hitachi is the sponsor of Legend Weekend.

The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze continues through Oct. 31

Rapidly becoming the largest Halloween event in the tri-state area, The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze is a Halloween spectacle integrating thousands of hand-carved pumpkins lit up throughout the landscape of Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., in various thematic and conceptual arrangements.

Themed areas 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.

Tickets are still available for Oct. 14, 18, 21, 24, 25, and 28-31. Other dates are sold out. 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. 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.

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.

Philipsburg Manor is at 381 North Broadway (Route 9) in Sleepy Hollow. Sunnyside is at 89 West Sunnyside Lane, off Route 9 in Tarrytown. Van Cortlandt Manor is at 525 South Riverside Avenue, just off Route 9 in Croton-on-Hudson.

Historic Hudson Valley is a network of six historic sites in Sleepy Hollow Country and the Great Estates region; Washington Irving’s Sunnyside; Kykuit, the Rockefeller estate, a historic site of the National Trust; Philipsburg Manor; the Union Church of Pocantico Hills; Van Cortlandt Manor; and Montgomery Place Historic Estate.