If you haven't heard of The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze, you are about to get your dose of Halloween inspiration. Located at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, NY, The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze is a breathtaking display of more than 7,000 illuminated jack o’lanterns. This event runs from late September through the end of November on select weekdays days plus weekends.
You could equate it to the New York Botanical Garden's Holiday Train Show in the sense that this is a seasonal display of sculptures built out of plants, in this case pumpkins. What makes this event even more spectacular is the nighttime ambiance, featuring synchronized lighting and thousands of glowing pumpkins. Amazingly, all of the displays, including 7,000 hand-carved jack o’lanterns, are designed and hand-carved on site. Look above at our slide show to give you a flavor of what to expect.
You could equate it to the New York Botanical Garden's Holiday Train Show in the sense that this is a seasonal display of sculptures built out of plants, in this case pumpkins. What makes this event even more spectacular is the nighttime ambiance, featuring synchronized lighting and thousands of glowing pumpkins. Amazingly, all of the displays, including 7,000 hand-carved jack o’lanterns, are designed and hand-carved on site. Look above at our slide show to give you a flavor of what to expect.
Unlike many other Halloween spectaculars and events, this one is very family friendly and appropriate for kids and adults of all ages-- assuming your children can handle staying up. For the early birds, you could consider going later in the season when the sun sets earlier and show times begin as early as 6:00pm. There are no scary zombies or haunted creatures lurking in the shadows.
Getting tickets can be hard to come by given the popularity of the event. If you are having trouble, you could consider purchasing a Historic Hudson Valley membership, which gives members at all levels one free ticket to The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze for every adult and child in their membership. Regular memberships (Family, Family PLUS, Dual, Individual, and Senior) must make reservations to attend. Premier and Premier PLUS members can attend at any time with no reservations required. The membership may be worth it if you are interested in attending many of their seasonal events like Horseman’s Hollow, Sleepy Hollow Experience and Dickens’s Christmas Carol.
In addition to the displays, there is also a food area with local beer and wine like the Autumn Blaze, Pumphouse and 1911 Original hard cider. In addition there are sandwiches, snacks and sweets. Keeping with the season, there is pumpkin pie, cider and cinnamon sugar donuts available for purchase. There is also a gift shop with pumpkin light wands, sparkly witch hats and other festive novelties.
Many people travel great distances to see "The Blaze", after all it is featured in many national articles like this one from Parents Magazine. How lucky are we that it is right here in our own backyard?
Have you been to the The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze? Share your experience in the comments below.
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