Westchester's Biggest Halloween Events Return
Life-size Dinosaurs Made of Pumpkins Roam at The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze
Super-size
puppets from Superior Concept Monsters join
the Headless Horseman at Legend Weekend
Visitors
can post Blaze video on YouTube and win an iPod Touch
Blaze Title Sponsor: Entergy
Nuclear; Blaze Participating Sponsor: Key Bank; Legend Weekend Sponsor: Hitachi America, Ltd.; Media Sponsor:
100.7 WHUD
SLEEPY HOLLOW, NY (August 21, 2008) - The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze and Legend
Weekend, the tri-state area's biggest and grandest Halloween celebrations, are
back this October. Blaze will take place over 18 nights, including Halloween,
and Legend Weekend will take place over four nights.
A massive Jurassic display of life-size dinosaurs is a
key showstopper for The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze, where a team of artists
come together to carve more than 4,000 jacks, many of them fused together in
enormous and elaborate constructions, all lit up throughout the wooded
walkways, orchards, and gardens of historic Van Cortlandt Manor in
Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.
Other new displays this year will include
a riff on Stonehenge, pirates emerging from the Croton River,
and classic Halloween characters.
The event takes place Oct. 4-5,
10-13, 17-19, and 23-31. 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. 25-26, 10-4 p.m. The evening events take place at Philipsburg Manor only, and on four nights: Oct.
18-19 and 25-26. The first reservation each evening is at 6.
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 HVBlog features news on all Historic Hudson Valley
happenings as well as behind the scenes info on Blaze and Legend event preparation.
Ticket information
Admission to Blaze and Legend Weekend Nights is by
advanced timed ticket ONLY. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 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). For Legend Weekend
daytime events, admission is $12 for adults, $10 for senior citizens, $6 for
ages 5-17, and free for children under five. Advance reservations are not
required for the daytime events. Tickets are available online at www.hudsonvalley.org.
Historic Hudson Valley members get in to all events for free but need reservations for the
evening programs. Full details on becoming a member are also online.
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, Pirates Cove, life-sized dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, a riff on Stonehenge,
an enormous hillside spider web with baby spiders and a mother watching over
them, still forming "pupa" jack o'-lanterns 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.
Video-savvy visitors are encouraged to enter the Blaze YouTube
Video Contest by filming Blaze, editing their work, and uploading their video
(three minutes or less) to YouTube. Each week, 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 one
of four iPod Touch prizes, all provided by 100.7 WHUD. Full contest details and
requirements are online at www.hudsonvalley.org.
Professional lighting designed by Jay Woods and a spooky aural
soundscape of original music and noises help create 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
Cortlandt Manor. Various arrangements and placements of pumpkins are meant to
complement and draw attention to the site's architecture, Revolutionary-era history,
and landscape. Dinosaurs are a huge inspiration this year.
"We introduced the dinosaur concept last year and it was
hugely popular. This year we are really going wild with it," said Natiello, who
is leading a team of Historic Hudson Valley staff and local artists that carve the pumpkins. In addition, more than 1,000 volunteers help scoop and light the pumpkins, including Westchester ARC,
dozens of Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops, Pace University
students and faculty, and high school students.
Blaze artists will be carving on site during the event, with their finished products
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, 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.
Blaze Title Sponsor is Entergy Nuclear Northeast,Blaze Participating Sponsor is Key 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 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.
New this year will be a massive display of creepy and creative super-size puppets inspired by Superior Concept Monsters, whose works wow crowds annually at the Greenwich Village Halloween
Parade.
Visitors, who are encouraged to come in costume, can watch Washington Irving's Headless Horseman take his fabled ride on a black steed. Emmy award-winning lighting designer Deke Hazirjian of New York City Lites creates a moody, atmospheric tableau. (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. 18-19 and 25-26, with the first admission at 6.
Hitachi is the sponsor of Legend Weekend.
Philipsburg Manor is at 381 North Broadway (Route 9) in Sleepy Hollow.
Legend Weekend Days
Legend Weekend events taking place
before the sun goes down are ideal 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. 25-26, from
10-4.
Visitors to Washington Irving's Sunnyside can enjoy games, 19th-century magic shows, sing-a-longs, Irish ghost stories, puppets telling the tale of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," and other kid-friendly Halloween experiences.
At Philipsburg Manor, children can take part in pumpkin carving and colonial-era games, while listening to some spooky storytelling.
Sunnyside is at 89 West Sunnyside Lane, off Route 9 in Tarrytown.
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.
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